Speak No Evil
by MariNisharo
Summary: The Royal Party pursues a mysterious hunter that goes by the name Xenova. The hunter is rather knowledgeable of the area and the beasts around them and quickly becomes of great use. However useful the hunter is, Xenova hides a great secret, one that could be potentially lethal to Noctis and his crew. Follows the plot loosely, so it does contain spoilers. Rating may change.
1. Xenova

Well, this is my first FFXV fan fiction. I have written other things not yet posted here, but the other characters were a bit easier to write for because writing out of character was a bit more acceptable. Look, I understand they may appear to be out of character, or hell, they may be wonderful, but that all depends on how you view them as a character.

I'd love for you all to tell me how you like it and maybe give me some suggestions. I may have already written a good portion of the story, but I always like suggestions and may even do my best to incorporate that in here.

There is a fair warning that in the later chapters, there may be some smut. It isn't concrete, and I may just glaze over the fact that it happened in one or two sentences. The character I am going to introduce is a little odd and weird in the beginning, but I promise that they get better and find an easier inclusion in the story.

Lastly, I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own, including a small point in the reason for Gladio's disappearance while they have the whole Vesperpool chapter.

~Enjoy~

Chapter 1 ~ Xenova

Often times, there are legends that float about the world by way of mouth. Many of these legends are well known and sought after by adventurers, hunters, ambitious commoners and other such riffraff of humanity. Legends come in all shapes and sizes; whether it is a story passed down from centuries of storytelling, the local legends of which creatures in the area are the biggest and baddest, or the latest story of vagrants that peruse the lands.

However a legend presents itself, whether it is great or miniscule, there is always a story behind it. Always people to tell the legend first hand or a collection of people piecing a story together through fragments they know of. Many people in the land of Lucis could tell a legend or two they have heard, even fewer can claim they have known someone that was part of the legend.

Even fewer people could say they were part of the making of a legend. Some were legends by birth, simply due to heritage. Others worked hard all their lives and only became known after their death. Some of the lucky ones worked hard to be known, yet whenever going somewhere new, were not noticed. One could often appreciate hearing the valiant stories while sitting in a diner, as the other people had not a clue they were in the presence of something great.

…

The hot desert air of Leide soon gave way to the sweet smelling forest area of Duscae. The group of four, the fisher, the survivalist, the chef and the photographer set off to explore the region of Duscae. Having just destroyed the roadblock imposed by the Empire, they are eager to rest up.

The terrain between the two regions was quite different. The green lush grass pairs with the full shrubs and the colorful flowers that span the sides of the road. Prince Noctis looks up from his seat to the horizon. A large volcano can easily be seen, as well as large arcs spanning from one side of the land to the other.

Noctis looks to the right side of the road to see an approaching fueling location he hopes will have a diner and a place to rest. He looks to the left to see a large yellow sign. _Wiz Chocobo Post._

"Chocobos!" Noctis looks towards the front seat at his blonde friend. "Can we please go see them? Please?" Prompto all but begs.

His other two companions, Ignis and Gladio sigh. Ignis gives him his answer, "Let's stop at this place first and get a meal. If it gets late, then we can stay there and go to the Chocobo Post tomorrow."

Prompto sighs but nods his head. Ignis pulls the black car to the gas pumps and turns off the engine. Noctis hops out quickly and stretches his legs while complaining about the long trip between the two regions. He leans on the car while Ignis fills the tanks before walking into the Crow's Nest Diner.

The diner looked much like the other ones he had been to. There were two umbrella tables outside and a bench with a large mascot crow for novelty pictures. He wandered in to see the cozy little atmosphere the diner kept. A couple kids played the arcade machines in the front part of the diner while people who looked to be locals occupied a few tables.

The group of four decided it was best to take seats at the bar. The manager walks over to them with a friendly smile, "You all look to be new. I haven't seen you around before. What can I get you?" They all place their orders and wait for food. There food arrives shortly afterwards.

Noctis leans forward and rests his chin on his fist as he listens to the conversations around him. The children are quite loud as they squeal with excitement or give mock curses whenever they lose. The people at the table nearest the door seem to be their parents or guardians, since they seem to be speaking of the children's behavior at their homes.

The table furthest from the exit catches his interest and he looks over his shoulder to get a better look at them. Two men sit there across from each other. The one with his back to the wall seems to be about thirty with a gruff nature about him and dirty clothes. The second seemed to be much older, perhaps fifty. He had on clothes similar to the first but he was much cleaner. If Noctis had to guess, he would think these two men were hunters.

He looks to see Gladio leaning back a bit trying to listen better to their conversation as well. He raises an eyebrow in question and gets a nod from his friend. Ignis picks up on what the two are doing and gently elbows Prompto to get his attention. They all try their best to listen without alerting the two hunters of their actions.

"They keep giving all the good hunts to Xenova. I swear if I see him again, I'll give him a piece of my mind," The younger hunter declares with a clenched jaw.

The older hunter gives a chuckle and tries to calm his friend, "Now, now. They must have a reason they are giving him all the good ones. Maybe he got a request for a big mission but he does not have the proper ranking or experience."

"Miller, if that was the case, why would they even request him in the first place?" The young hunter questions.

"It was just an idea, Manes. No need to get worked up," Miller chuckles at the easily irritated Manes, "I'll tell you what, maybe we can wait here until Xenova comes back. When he comes back I can ask him for you. We don't want to have a repeat of last time…"

Manes slams his fist on the table and stands. The group of four, as well as the other patrons in the diner turn to look at the two hunters with wide eyes. "I don't need your help. You retired a long time ago, so you wouldn't even get to talk to Xenova. The man thinks he is above everyone else anyways!" Miller holds his hands up defensively and tries to motion for Manes to settle down.

"I swear," Manes begins, "As soon as I see that Bastard, I'll—" He stops mid-sentence to look to the door. He walks towards the door with his fists at his sides, fuming with anger. Everyone looks over at the door to see a cloaked figure. The black cloak is dusty and has a few rips in the bottom where it is closer to the ground. The person wears knee-high combat boots and what seem to be black jeans tucked in. The cloak covers all other features, doing its job to keep the person hidden from identifying views.

"Xenova you bastard!" Manes grabs the front of the cloak and lifts—whom everyone assumes to be Xenova—off the ground and pins him to the wall. He pulls back his fist, ready to give a strong punch. Xenova holds his left arm out to the side, moving the cloak to show a black shirt. A blue swirl of light shines around his hand and wrist then slowly dims to show a weapon Noctis had never seen.

Black leather shows where bare skin was before, from a little away from his elbow up to his fingers, where five long claws of some sort came out. If Noctis had to think of the mechanics, the claws were hollow curved cones in which his fingers were, resembling the long claws of a behemoth. They attached to the thick black leather around Xenova's hand to look like a large creature's paw. The claws were sharp and shiny, likely made from an uncommon metal.

Xenova slowly move his claw gauntlet to Manes' chest and let the tips of the claws touch the spot his heart resides. Manes lets go of Xenova and backs away slowly. He returns to his spot in the diner, blatantly ignoring the old hunter's laughter. Noctis lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Xenova pulls out a yellowed paper from somewhere on his person and sets it down on the table. He places his hand that is still in the weapon next to it and taps the pointer finger claw on it. The manager walks over and takes the paper, "Oh, you brought this back quite fast. Is there anything I can get you?"

Xenova points to behind the counter at the other hanging fliers. The manager walks back and pulls a flier from the wall. He hands it over to the mysterious hunter with a smile. "Please don't mind Manes. He has had a rough day." Xenova nods and turns to leave. "Wait," the manager calls after him. The cloaked figure stops and turns around to see what the man wants.

"It's already dusk. It would be dangerous to go out venturing into the night. I know you are a good hunter, but can you really deal with all of those daemons?" Xenova nods at the man and leaves as quietly as he had come.

The manager sighs and shakes his head a bit disapprovingly before returning in front of the group of four. "Please pardon Manes' outburst… He has a hot temper, and as you can see, this isn't the first time."

Noctis looks back to the table where Manes sulks then back at the manager and questions, "Who is this Xenova guy anyways?" The manager sighs and takes out a small stack of yellowed papers. He sets them down in front of the group.

"As far as I know, Xenova is a hunter. He comes by to pick up new hunts every once in a while. He seems to come from other places because some of these fliers are not from this diner. This one here," He holds up 'The Varmints of the Wasteland', "is from Hammerhead. So the fellow must have had some way to bypass the roadblock."

"Some way to bypass the roadblock? If only we had knowledge of this before," Ignis sighs.

"We had no way of knowing," Gladio suggests, "If it was a well known passage, then it would have been blocked as well."

The manager waves over Miller, "Miller, can you please fill these guys in on Xenova? I only know so much. Since you guys are part of the association too, you might know a bit more." The manager takes the yellow flier back and puts them in a file.

Miller sits at the bar beside Noctis, "Is there something I can help you four with?"

"Ah, yes," Ignis answers, "We wish to know more about that fellow that just left here."

Prompto leans back so he can look at Miller, "Yeah, and that guy is crazy! He walked out of here and the daemons will be coming out any minute!"

Miller gives a chuckle, "I have no doubt that Xenova has a camp nearby. You boys don't plan to go out at this hour as well, do you?"

"That is hardly an option," Ignis points out. "We will just have to stay somewhere nearby." Miller stands and begins walking out the diner. The four friends follow him out.

He points to a run down trailer of sorts, "That place is available. Xenova had stayed there a few times. You could try to poke around and see if you find anything about the guy."

Prompto walks towards the door with a large smile on his face, "Like a treasure hunt!" Noctis sighs, "If you want to treat it that way. I don't think he would leave anything behind though."

"You talk like you've known the man for years," Ignis mutters. "I just feel like a hunter wouldn't leave things behind. Especially something important," Noctis opens the door and looks around inside. The place, despite being a bit old looking and run down with usual wear and tear, seems to be clean. It's as empty. There are a few dishes in the sink that look clean, the blankets on the bed in the back look clean, and the fridge has a few bottles of water inside.

"The place looks pretty unused," Gladio points out as he looks around. "What about these?" Prompto holds up a chain with dog tags, "I found them beside the bed."

Ignis holds out his hand to receive the tags, "That Dave fellow said dog tags are the identity for a hunter, yes? We best try to get these back to that fellow; or at least get them to the manager."

Noctis takes the tags and has a closer look, "They are a bit dirty, but the name says, 'Quinn Xenova'. It has four stars etched under it."

"A rank four hunter?" Gladio questions. "From what I understand, that is a pretty good rank. This guy could be a formidable foe."

Noctis looks at the second tag that was partially behind the first one. There is a thicker tag with a picture on the front under clear plastic. It was a small picture of a young man and a younger woman.

The two looked to be siblings with the boy a couple years older than the young girl. They both had silver hair and pale blue eyes. He had his arms around the girl and gave a flashy smile while she gave a sweet smile and held her arms out, making it look like she took the photo.

"Do you think this is him?" Noctis shows the photo to the others.

"The boy looks really young in that photo," Prompto points out, "Those could be his kids if he had any."

Gladio takes the tags to look them over, "Either the photo has been taken care of, or it's not that old."

Ignis takes the tags next and inspects it. "This must be Xenova. He has a dog tag on in this photo," He points to the tag around the young man's neck. "He is relatively recognizable with silver hair like that, so we should not have too much trouble getting information on the fellow. We should return these soon."

"Then are we giving the tags back to the diner? I don't think we need to get too close to whatever that guy is up to, he seems dangerous," Prompto suggests with a nervous smile.

"I am certain we can handle whatever comes up," Ignis crosses his arms. "Right now, we should get some rest. We can ask about the flier he took and get a lead on where he is headed."

…

"What do you mean he didn't grab a flier from you?" Prompto questions the manager.

"It's just as I said, son. He came in here as soon as I opened up and brought in the flier. He left with a nod. Just hang on to them. If he notices they are missing, then I am sure that a great hunter like him will be able to find you. You could also send them to the Meldacio HQ. I have no doubt that young fellow will be heading back there soon."

Noctis gives a long drawn out sigh. "What's the matter?" Ignis questions, "Not feeling up to holding onto those for a while?" Noctis holds the tags in his hand gently and looks at them. Xenova looks so happy holding his younger sister. Noctis only has to wonder what made such a young guy turn to being a hunter and destroying the various beasts around the land for gil.

"Doesn't look much like a killer in that photo, does he?" Noctis jumps slightly when he hears Gladio, wondering how he let himself get lost in thought.

"He looks so young and harmless here with his sister," Noctis responds with a sigh.

"He's just like me. He has a young sister he has to look after. He's a warrior in the streets and a brother in the homestead.

"He does sort of remind me of you, having a young sister to look after."

"Although," Gladio laughs, "I think I'm better looking." The large man puts a hand under his chin and gives the prince a smile.

Noctis and Gladio turn to hear a chuckle from behind them. Miller stands behind them with a smile. "May I see that please?" The old hunter points to the tags. Noctis hands them over and gives a questioning look when Miller gives a sad smile. "I have not seen him happy like this in so long. Come to think of it, I have not seen him without that hood on in a few years."

"So that's Xenova?" Prompto questions.

"Yes, but I would say that this picture was a good four years old. His sister looks so young."

"Well we want to get these back to him," Noctis mentions. "Do you think we could hand these off to you? You seem to know the guy enough."

Miller shakes his head slowly; "Xenova does not speak to people anymore. People are beginning to think something happened to him in such a way that he does not speak and keeps himself hidden. Manes thinks he got into a fight he did not easily win. You can hand these off to his sister though. I happen to know where she has been hanging around lately. We bumped into her a few days ago."

"That would be very helpful," Ignis thanks the old hunter.

Miller puts his hand to his chin to think for a brief moment, "We bumped into her on our way here. She showed us a letter about some sort of disturbance near the Chocobo post that had to be checked into. There is a haven or two near there that you could check out."

"Thank you very much, sir," Ignis tells him. The four friends walk out of the diner and to the car. Ignis starts her up but turns her off again once he sees Miller walking towards him.

Miller holds out a yellowed paper, "Can you please make sure that Xenova gets this? I heard a while ago that he had a score to settle with this thing." Ignis takes the paper and assures Miller that they will get it to him. Noctis takes the flier from Ignis as he pulls out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"Feathered Giant of the Firesmoke," Noctis reads the title. "There isn't a picture. There is a huge reward though." Noctis tucks the flier into his jacket pocket and takes out the dog tags again. Prompto turns around and holds out his hand. Noctis gives him the tags, "Just hang onto them for now on, ok?"

The blonde photographer nods and looks at the tags. He tries to clean the dust off of them and make the plastic keeping the photo safe a bit cleaner. "Do you think what Miller said is true? That he lost some fight and chooses to hide his face because he got hurt somehow?"

"A man wears his scars proudly," Gladio declares.

"I think the idea is a bit of a stretch, but with the limited details, we do not have much to go on," Ignis says with a sigh.

They stop on the side of the road once they reach the first Haven the manager had mentioned to them previously. Noctis walks to the flat rock with blue runes and has a look around. "It doesn't look like anyone was here recently. We can go to the post then check the second one."

"Finally!" Prompto chees, "We can finally go see the Chocobos!"

Noctis gives a laugh as the other two give a sigh. They pile into the car before finishing their trip to the Chocobo post, having stopped a few times for photo opportunities and a bit of sight seeing of the local fauna. They finally reach the Wiz Chocobo Post around four in the afternoon.

Prompto excitedly walks over to the man standing by the tables speaking to some customers. He waits rather patiently for the man to finish up with them and walk over to the new customers. "'Scuse me. We'd like to ride the Chocobos."

The older fellow introduces himself as Wiz and apologizes a few times to them before he gets to the actual reason he is apologizing. "I hate to break this to you all, but we can't permit our birds to leave the post." Prompto's smile falls and he gives a sigh. Wiz sighs as well, "We can't let them out while Deadeye is still running about."

"Deadeye?" Noctis questions.

"He's an uncommonly ferocious behemoth that's taken to prowlin' these parts as of late. His scent makes our birds nervous, an' to prevent accidents an' tragedies, we have no choice but to suspend rentals." Wiz sighs a long sigh, "A hunter came by earlier and took the flier for his bounty. If you four are up to the task, you could try to catch up to him. It worries me to think one man would try to take on that behemoth."

"What did this fellow look like?" Ignis questions.

"I wish I could tell you," Wiz gives a chuckle. "Man was wearing a black cloak and didn't say a word to me. I recommended he stay at the nearby haven and start on the hunt tomorrow. He just gave me a nod, so I have no idea if that is what he actually did."

"I think that would be our man," Gladio states.

Noctis gives a snicker, "He's not my man, but if you want to call him yours…" His statement earns him a punch in the arm.

"Well," Ignis tries to get the friends to settle down. "We will head out there to at least give the tags back. We can go after we have some food and look at the Chocobos.

Prompto excuses himself to go look at the large yellow birds while the other three sit down and order food. Wiz gives them the lay of the land and tells them about nearby spots they would find helpful.

The four hang around the post until the sun begins to set. They take the car a little ways back the way they came until they get to a dirt path. They all hop out and begin the short walk to the haven in the fading sunlight.

The four arrive to see a fire alight in the center of the rock and a young lady sitting with her legs hanging over the edge of the rock. She swings her legs gently and turns her head to look at them. She gives a large smile in greeting then turns back to look at the dying sunlight.

Gladio begins to set up camp while Prompto and Ignis gather things for them to have for dinner. Noctis sits by the fire and watches the girl. Her hair is long and silver, reaching the middle of her back. She is average build, perhaps a bit shorter than him. She hums softly as she plays some sort of game on her phone.

Ignis soon returns and prepares food for the four of them. He points to the girl on the edge of the haven with a questioning look. Each of the friends exchanges glances, as if drawing straws in their minds to see who will be forced to interact with the odd young woman. Noctis finally points to his blonde friend then to the girl.

Prompto shrugs his shoulders and walks over to the edge. The young woman pauses her game and looks up at him. She gives a smile. Prompto smiles back and points to her phone, "What game are you playing?"

She un-pauses it and hands it to him. It seems to be some sort of quest game. Her character looks a lot like her while she wanders around the virtual forest. She stands and shows him which button to push by pointing to it. He does as she shows and soon the little character begins to slay monsters left and right.

After a few moments of playing, Prompto hands the phone back to her. He points over to his friends, "We are going to have dinner. You are welcome to join us." The girl with silver hair slowly shakes her head. She waves her hands in front of her slowly to show she does not want to go over and gives a sheepish smile.

Prompto wanders back to the chairs by their part of the haven and sits down to enjoy his diner. "Did she not wish to join us?" Ignis sits beside him with a questioning look.

"She just shook her head no. I don't see why she wouldn't want to try some of your awesome cooking."

Noctis walks over beside Prompto and looks over at the girl, "I wonder which part of dining with four strange men is on an average woman's itinerary." Gladio gives a laugh from his seat by the tent.

Gladio looks at the woman and then at Prompto, "Can I see those tags again please?" Prompto takes them from his pocket and tosses them over to Gladio. "She looks a lot like the girl in this picture. Silver hair on someone this young is pretty unusual. You should go ask her if she knows Xenova."

"I think we have bothered the young lady enough," Ignis states. They finish up their meals and sit near the tent with a deck of cards in play. They occasionally look over at the girl. After a while, she moves from sitting on the edge to a bit closer to the fire to lie on her back with her arms behind her head and her knees bent so she looks as if she would do sit-ups. She still hums as she looks up into the night sky.

"She is quite odd, I'll give her that," Ignis adds. They play their card game before turning in for the night. They each wish each other goodnight and give the stargazing woman one last glance.

…

So? Who is the mysterious Xenova?

A rogue hunter? A hunter who hides behind his cloak out of shame from his previous battle scars? Will he single handedly take down Deadeye in front of the royal party?

Find out in Chapter 2: "From Four to Five"!

Did you like it? Do you think I could improve upon the story a bit more? Write a review or send me a private message! I love feedback from my audience whether it is all good or things I need to work on!


	2. From Four to Five

Hello all, here's another chapter! So this chapter is based on A Behemoth Undertaking. I felt like wandering through the endless rock wall stuff was a bit boring, but nonetheless important, so I had to include it. Let me know how you feel about it, and the big face off with Deadeye. So, Xenova makes his true appearance in this part of the story. I'd like to know your thoughts on him. I want to know how you feel about certain aspects of his character. (You will understand why at the end.)

I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.

Chapter 2 ~ From Four to Five

The fresh morning air of the forest greets the dark-haired prince as he steps out of the tent. He was the last to actually get up as always. He looks around the campsite while taking in the scenery around him. He noticed that his group was the only one here. The strange girl from the night before, and all traces of her, were gone. Noctis looks towards Ignis, hoping for some sort of answer.

"She was gone before I had come out here. I do believe she may have been a bit unnerved about sharing the site with us," He gives Noctis his idea of why she was not there. "She may also have had somewhere to be."

The four pack up their things and get them into the car. They make their way over to the Chocobo post to keep the Regalia parked in a safe place before heading into the lush forest. The four find a dirt path leading towards the destination and decide it would be a bit easier to walk on that path rather than going through the bushes and what not.

They wander to a part of the forest where large rocks appear on either side of the trail, giving a sort of maze feel to it all. Noctis looks up from the path when he hears a deep roar somewhere deeper within. Trees fall easily over on their sides with snapping sounds as the growling and roaring continues.

More broken trees lie up ahead on the ground where the path splits to go further into the large rock formation. Deep scratches gouged into the tree show the reddish-orange colored bark inside. The four wander inside where the rock walls make the path narrower. They look around and at the ground to see large footprints with long claws.

Several smaller paw prints could be seen leading farther in. Ignis squats down to inspect them further when he holds up a few hollow quills, "If I'm not mistaken, these would be Voretooth Bristles. We should continue with caution."

Prompto points to another part of the ground, "There are some shoe prints heading in here too." Ignis walks over to look at the prints. They certainly were shoe prints, and from what he could tell, they looked to be some sort of combat boot. They continue into the area with more caution than before, constantly stopping to look about. Noctis steps into a wider area and notes there is some sort of power pylon to his left.

He freezes once he hears several loud growls, accompanied by footfalls. Noctis holds out his hand as his Javelin appears with a whirl of blue light. Prompto stands back and does his best to land critical shots, rather than up-close ones. Ignis warns, "Their bristles have some sort of neurotoxin coating them, do not touch them."

Noctis jumps into the air and brings the pointed blade down through the flank of one of the creatures, earning a pained howl from it. He turns to look for his next target when a flurry of claws and teeth send him on his back. He uses the javelin to keep the Voretooth from ripping out his throat while doing his best to keep his face from the claws.

Gladio uses his two-handed sword to knock the creature off of the downed prince. After dispatching a few of the creatures, Noctis is able to stand still and look around at the blood and other gore littering the small area. He dusts off his pants and back and looks around to get his bearings.

They continue onwards, noting there are more boot prints in the ground. Ignis could now say that he was near certain a hunter was already making his way deeper into the beast's lair. They wander until they get to a split in the road.

"We can go left, or we can go right," Noctis states. He turns and looks to his friends to see what opinion they might have on the direction they should go. "Well," Ignis walks towards the left path, "The other footprints go this way, so perhaps we should as well?" Noctis nods and begins to lead them down the left path.

They wander through the maze like area until they reach a small opening in the rock structure with metal scraps leaning up against the walls of the stone. Ignis points to the wall on the left, "That blood smear looks fresh." Noctis looks over at the blood smeared on the wall. It looks as if some injured animal had leaned against it for support briefly.

"It seems too high up to be a Voretooth. Perhaps our hunter friend had a bit of trouble?" Ignis looks closer, noting that the blood was still wet towards the center of the mark. "I suppose we will just have to continue onwards until we find out."

Noctis nods and crouches down to get ready to go through the small opening to the tunnel. He hears a deep growl and Gladio pulls him back, "Noct," he gets his attention before peering through the tunnel. He holds up his hand to tell everyone to be still. He shuffles into the tunnel and looks around before waving to the others to follow.

Noctis slowly shuffles in after Gladio. The growling continues to sound softly, accompanied by what sound to be the rattle of a dangerous snake. Gladio stops up ahead when they reach the other side of the rocks to be met with rebar leaning up against the wall, making a sort of cage. The view of the trees above is mostly all they can see from the level they are.

Heavy footfalls sound as Gladio holds his hand up to stop everyone, "Hold up."

The large behemoth walks forward, shaking its head as saliva flicks from the corners of its open mouth. The horn on its right is broken and the eye is scarred and white.

"Deadeye—the name says it all," Gladio points to his eye as he whispers. The large behemoth begins to feast on whatever he had recently killed. Bloody saliva drips from his mouth as he continues to growl.

"Let's move," Gladio waves his hand towards himself and begins the painstakingly slow shuffle in the tunnel. Noctis looks up at the beast, unable to move his eyes from the hairy beast. He slowly shuffles forwards as he watches the white eye and broken horn. He bumps into Gladio, causing him to stumble forwards.

The behemoth gives a questioning growl as it steps back and turns to look at the semi-caged tunnel. Gladio dives forward to the next spot where there is cover over the path and Noctis backs up slightly to get into the cover above him. Deadeye shoves his muzzle into the exposed part of the tunnel between Noctis and Gladio, giving a deafening roar.

Deadeye gives another smaller roar as he stalks off. Gladio gets off the ground and back into a crouch as the rest of them do the same. They all breathe a sigh of relief as Gladio motions for them to move forward. They do so as Deadeye's ground shaking footfalls become quieter.

They quickly exit the tunnel to see a large wall on their right, much to their relief. Having something like a wall between them and the monster, though it is not much, was nice to have. They stretch their muscles as they wait for the adrenaline to lessen.

"It's weak on the right—no eye, no horn," Gladio states.

Ignis nods and looks around at the foliage, "We'll stay in range until we can exploit its blind spot." Noctis nods in agreement, looking around as the fog begins to thicken and the density of the trees near the rocks does as well.

They wander through the fog until they reach a narrow passageway with a rock and a fence with razor wire curled on top. They each take turns jumping over the fence and doing their very best not to get snagged on the rusty wire. Ignis takes note that there is some clean fabric on the wire that had not come from any of them.

They reach a large open area with thick fog. Rocks pepper the area as well as a few trees. A deep growl alerts them that they are near the huge behemoth. They see the large outline within the fog. "We've got the beast in our sights," Gladio whispers.

Ignis sighs, "But no plan of attack. The behemoth should be headed back to its lair, where we can catch it fully off guard."

Noctis nods, "Yeah, as long as we can stay on guard ourselves."

They wander through the fog to see blood smears on nearly every rock they pass by. "It seems the hunter was here as well. He can't be too far ahead of us," Ignis suggests. They tail the beast until he jumps over the rock wall. The four see a flash of black in the fog headed towards the same direction.

They quickly follow and see the figure slip in between a very narrow passage. Unsure if they will fit as well, Noctis gives a try and steps in the tiny passage. His fingertips touch a warm and sticky wet spot on the wall. He brings his hand to look at what he touched to see them coated in blood.

"It must be the same guy," He quietly calls to the rest of his group. They squeeze through the rest of the way and look around. They enter into some sort of ruins. Noctis takes note of the red barrels that are strewn about the place haphazardly. They wander into a larger area as the fog begins to clear.

Noctis looks to his right when he hears a brick fall. His gaze travels upwards to the sight of a cloaked man perched on the top of one of the ruin's walls. Though his face could not be seen, other than a bit of his mouth, Noctis was quite certain he knew that fellow. The hunter held up a clawed gauntlet with one claw up to his mouth, to tell them to be quiet.

Noctis nods and proceeds onwards as quietly as possible. The fog completely clears to show Deadeye on a miniature cliff, looking directly at the four. Noctis takes a step back with a quiet gasp as the beast eyes them up and down like the food they were certainly about to be.

The behemoth stands and roars the same deafening roar from before. Deadeye jumps down from his perch. Ignis pulls Noctis back, "We should try to stay out of his range."

They watch as a spiral of flames pierces the red barrel to Deadeye's left. They look on in awe as the barrel bursts with a fiery explosion. The cloaked figure stands on the ledge of the broken wall high up in the air. They are so taken aback by the mysterious hunter that they just barely dodge a lunge from the giant beast.

Another ball of fire comes from above and an explosion chars the behemoth's skin on his left. He stumbles around some until he nears the wall. The hunter jumps off and soars through the air like a feline attacking its prey with his claw gauntlets ready to take hold of the beast. He lands on the beast's shoulder and uses his claws to slash his skin near his neck, aiming for a fatal slash.

The four join the fight, doing their best to break his claws and send him off balance. The hunter jumps off and lands near his hindquarters. The claws on his left gauntlet begin to turn a bright orange before a swirl of fire magic energy manifests in his palm. He looks to see the placement of the others and looks back at Deadeye a bit too late.

The huge tail comes full force towards him, knocking him off his feet, sending his ball of fire magic into a random barrel and sending him flying about twenty feet away. He crashes into a rock wall and falls to his knees. He coughs heavily as speckles of blood paint the ground beneath his chest. The hunter looks towards the battle as Noctis brings a two-handed sword down on the behemoths head. Deadeye falls to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.

The hunter hears footsteps coming towards him. With a wisp of blue, his gauntlets are gone and he breathes heavily as he watches the four near him. He looks as a fellow with light brown hair and glasses reaches out his hand. The hunter warily takes the offer and gets some help off the ground. He coughs again, speckles of blood dot his hands as he tries to keep it from getting on anyone.

"Noct," He turns to the black-haired fellow, "You wouldn't happen to have any extra potions on you?" Noctis holds out the bottle of liquid. The hunter takes it and drinks it quickly, taking some time to slightly lift his shirt and splash some on his side where three deep gashes were.

The wounds begin to slowly stitch themselves back together and disappear with the only sign they were there as faint pink scars. The hunter feels the broken ribs begin to mend as well. "Now, I'm very certain you will still be in quite a lot of pain, however, now it is not detrimental to your health," Ignis states.

The hunter nods and puts a hand over his side. He gives a nod as thanks. He pulls out the flier for Deadeye and hands it to Noctis. He walks slowly over to the hulking monstrosity of a beast and pulls out a cellphone. He snaps a few photos of the large paws and of the face. He makes a great deal to inspect the beast before taking out a hunting knife.

He cuts into the gums and digs with the knife until she gets the large canine loose. After inspecting it a bit, it disappears with a blue light just as the claw gauntlets did.

"Excuse me," The hunter turns around to see the blond photographer approaching him. Prompto dangles the dog tags. They all notice how the hunter tenses up as he slowly approaches the blond. He holds out his hand and gently receives the tags.

"We saw you at the diner. You left that in the trailer. It was pretty hard finding you," Prompto takes out his camera and snaps a photo of the hunter holding the tags up. The hunter holds out a hand. Prompto shakes it with a smile.

"Oh," Gladio steps forward, "I think we saw the girl in that photo last night. She left before we got up. Do you know if she is alright?" The hunter dangles the tags. He points to the tags and then to himself. They all look at him like he's crazy. He shakes his head in frustration and jangles the tags and points to himself again.

"Maybe it would be a bit easier for us to understand you if you talked to us," Noctis crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. The hunter puts the tags in his pocket and reaches into the hood. Long silver tresses of hair fall neatly out of one side of the hood. The hunter, now confirmed to be a she, points to her silver hair.

"So then what about Xenova? The guy that these belong to?" Noctis questions. The she hunter pinches the bridge of her nose and wanders over to a pile of scrap. She fishes out a stick and wanders over to the dirt. She draws two stick figures. One that is assumed to be male and the other had long hair to show it is female.

She writes the initials 'SX' over the male and 'QX' over the female. She taps the stick on the dirt beside the 'QX' and then points to herself. "So then these were your tags," Gladio points out. She gives a smile and an enthusiastic nod.

"But those guys in the diner thought that you were your brother. Even the old guy, who said he knew your brother, thought these were his," Prompto adds. She writes the last name 'Xenova' above the figures in large letters. She draws a circle around the entire picture.

Ignis examines her drawing for a moment before looking up at her, "Do you mean that you both just go by Xenova?" She nods.

Prompto raises his hand and gets Ignis' attention, "How come they would go by a last name instead of their first?"

"In some cultures, they go by surnames. They might go by Xenova because it is part of their culture," he turns back towards the she hunter, "I'm going to guess and say that you most likely go by something else in the presence of your brother, correct?" She nods again enthusiastically.

"I see. Calling you by your first name would be quite rude then? And calling you Xenova might be a bit confusing, so how shall we address you?" Ignis crosses his arms and waits for an answer. "Before you give an answer, any way that you do. May I ask a personal question?"

She puts a finger under her chin and looks up, doing her best to continue to keep her face hidden by the shadow of the cloak. She nods after a few seconds. "You are a mute, are you not?" She gives a smile and presses her finger to her nose. "Ah, just as I thought. We will likely have to stick to yes or no questions."

"Can we call you Silver?" Prompto questions enthusiastically. "Because you have silver hair, y'know." She crosses her arms and thinks for a few moments before shrugging. She holds out her hand to shake Ignis'. He formally introduced himself. She shakes everyone's hand and they introduce themselves.

After having met everyone, Silver feels that she is more comfortable with them and removes her hood. After fixing her hair a bit and looks back at them and smiles again. "For someone who can't talk, you sure do express a lot of emotion," Prompto points out. Noctis elbows him and shakes his head.

"Well, Silver," Ignis begins, "Will you be accompanying us to the Post? It would be rude of us to go there and claim your bounty." She gives a nod and begins wondering towards the other end of the area. She crawls through a short opening in the rock and waits for the four on the other side.

They take the long way around to the Chocobo Post, giving the four a good few moments to explain to Silver all the things they had learned and heard of from the other hunters and the diner manager. She smiles through their conversation, nodding from time to time to acknowledge that she was paying attention.

Once they see the post, Prompto runs ahead, dragging Noctis with him. Silver puts the hood of her cloak back on and tucks her hair in. Gladio and Ignis give her a sideways glace but don't question her behavior. Before they get too close to the post, Ignis stops and requests to have a word with Silver. Gladio walks on ahead, leaving the two on the path.

"Please, stop me if I become too imposing, but I wish to know how you became a mute. You did hum some tune the night before, so your vocal cords must still be in tact," He puts his hand up to his mouth to think a bit. She smiles and walks off to get another stick.

She finds a patch of soft dirt and draws a family of stick figures: a mother, father and two children. She crosses out the two parental figures and draws a picture of a brain. She connects it to the little girl with a line. She points to the brain and draws a question mark next to it.

"Ah, so something happened to your parents; something traumatic for you. Thus, you are unable to talk because of the trauma. You are able to hum and most likely make a few other vocal noises because that travels a different path through the brain," Ignis crouches down to look at the drawing. She crouches down next to him and points at him and then taps her nose. "I'm being nosy?" She snickers and nods.

"I see. Let us be on our way then," Ignis stands and starts walking. "One other thing. I'd like you to confer with Noctis. I believe we could make a valuable partner of you yet." She follows closely until they get to the post and stand before the owner, Wiz. She stands tall and strides over with the gall most hunters have.

He thanks her, believing her to be a male hunter who keeps to himself. He pays her the bounty, of which she gives half to the group of four, and tells them they are free to rent Chocobos. She shakes his hand and gives a polite bow before going to stand by the group of four.

"Noctis," Ignis gets the prince's attention, "I had a quiet chat with out new acquaintance. Perhaps it would do some good to team up? She has an unusual weapon, knows a bit of magic and is a relatively skilled fighter."

"Oh, well the car will be a bit cramped, but I don't see any downside to her joining," He looks at the hooded girl. "You will have to lose the hood though. We already stick out, but the whole cloak thing you have going on is definitely not helping." Silver nods and pushes the hood down. She fixes her silver hair a bit before looking around.

They all walk to the car and get situated, forcing Silver to sit in the middle. They make their way to Lestallum. She entertains herself by playing on her phone or listening to the playful banter of the car. The four sometimes ask her questions, but generally forget that she can usually only answer yes or no questions.

"Can we see your claws?" Noctis questions. She holds out her hands in front of her as the leather and metal claws materialize. She hands one gauntlet to Noctis and passes the other to Prompto. She hears the camera shutter a few times and snickers when she realizes how interesting they think her claws are. Prompto soon passes the one he has to Gladio.

"Fine weapons like this must have a name right?" Gladio looks the claws up and down, testing how sharp they are. She takes the gauntlet from Noctis and puts it on. She makes the blades red hot before pointing to them and then to the floor of the Regalia.

"Burning carpet?" Prompto questions. She shakes her head and points down again, then to the hot blades. "Lava?" She points down again. "Hell?" She nods and pulls out her knife. She points to its blade and then to each of the claws. "Hell Blades?" She gives a smile and points to her nose. She lets them vanish with a wisp of blue light and sheathes her knife under her cloak.

…

Innocent she hunter? Spy sent by the empire? Trouble in the form of a silent but deadly woman? Wild trickster hiding behind the guise of a quiet woman?

Who is Quinn Xenova? Why does she let them call her Silver? Will she show her true colors in Lestallum? What will Iris think of her?

Find out in Chapter Three: "Silver's Day Out"!

Please review or send me a private message. Tell me your thoughts. Did you love it and want to see more? Do you want a certain ship to happen? Do you dislike it and want to tell me why? Anything you have to say, I want to hear.


	3. Silver's Day Out

How are you all? My wonderful readers, today, we get to read about Lestallum. Now this chapter does get a bit crazy. It's probably not one of my best chapters, but it's relatively good nonetheless. I have only this to say for now: there is a lot of foreshadowing going on here and most of it is pretty important.

I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.

Chapter 3 ~ Silver's Day Out

The drive to Lestallum takes no time at all as they watch the sights around them. Ignis pulls the Regalia into a parking space and the group of four look around in awe. Silver grips the collar of her cloak and looks around the area.

They all get out of the car. Silver quickly walks over and grabs hold of Gladio's arm, holding onto him tightly. "Not much for crowds huh?" He looks down at her. She looks up with a plea not to make her let go, as her pale blue eyes dart around to look at the various things.

People greet them as they walk past. Prompto looks around, "Any chance of sleeping in a nice room tonight?"

"Yes," Ignis answers, "I'm sure we can secure… suitable accommodations nearby." They walk up the steps and look around the main road. The main thoroughfare has lots of people loitering around and chatting together. "One hell of a crowd," Prompto points out. Silver squishes herself closer to Gladio, making him stumble slightly.

They cross the street and Gladio pries Silver from his arm, "You will be fine." He takes out his phone to look at the text from Iris. "She's at the Leville. Let's go." He continues walking, leaving Silver to stand alone and look at the people around her. A few children run up to her and the tallest one takes hold of her cloak to get a better look at the fabric.

She jumps back and a clawed gauntlet swirls with blue light to her left hand. Her weapon only intrigues them more as they crowd her further. She falls backwards on her butt and swipes in the air with her claws to give warning. She bares her teeth like a snarling dog and gives a low growl.

Noctis walks over and shoos the kids away before grabbing the back of the collar of her cloak and lifting her from the ground. "Enough of this. I know it's scary here and it's difficult to not be able to voice that. Just put the hood on and let's go." Silver dismisses her weapon and puts on her hood, leaving her silver locks sticking out to spill out of the hood on each side.

Immediate relief. She looks around, content that nobody can see her. She takes a deep breath and then walks onwards with the others, relatively unhindered by her fear. They wander through the less crowded street on the way to the hotel. They all cover their noses as they walk past piles of garbage that smells worse because of the hot weather.

"We can just hope that the hotel they are staying in is a lot nicer than the surrounding area," Ignis voices. They give a sigh of relief when they see the Hotel. It is much nicer than the area suggests, having a clean and pristine look to it. They walk next to the fountain and Silver stops to look into the water.

She stumbles a bit as the ground trembles beneath them. She grabs hold of the stone ledge to keep herself steady as Noctis reaches his hand up to his head and gives a pained grunt. "Whoa," Prompto exclaims, "Did you feel that?"

"You mean the earthquake?" Gladio questions a bit sarcastically. Ignis looks over at Noctis, who looks like he is in pain, "Are you alright?"

"My head just started throbbing," He answers as he tries to get his pain to go away. They all shrug is off as a weird coincidence and continue up the steps to the hotel. They wait in the lobby for Iris to come down. Silver looks at all the décor and wanders around. Once she feels it is safe enough, she takes the hood off and walks back over to the group of four.

Silver looks up when she hears the excited, "Gladdy!" A young woman with dark hair and black attire comes down the stairs excitedly. "Iris," He turns to accept a hug from his sister. She steps back and looks at the four, "Look at you guys, holding your own out there."

She turns towards the new member of the team: the she hunter with long silver hair. "Who is this? Your girlfriend, Gladdy?"

Gladio snorts and shakes his head. Ignis steps forward, "This is a new addition to our team: Silver. She is a skilled hunter." Iris holds out her hand to shake Silver's. Silver shakes her hand and gives a smile.

"Are you guys staying here?" She questions.

"That's the plan," Ignis answers her.

Gladio pulls his sister aside, "When you have time, we have catching up to do." His sister nods. They walk upstairs leaving the other four to fend for themselves. Silver puts her hood on and strides out of the hotel, intent on getting the lay of the town. She would also be sure to check out the local bounties.

Prompto, Ignis and Noctis wait a while before they join Gladio and Iris upstairs. They sit in her room and talk for a few moments before an older gentleman and a young boy come in to greet them. "Jared and Talcott!" Gladio stands, "Is it good to see you."

Talcott steps forwards, "Prince Noctis, Iris is safe with me!" Jared scolds him quietly, but Noctis stops him, "I like it." Jared gives a nod, "His Highness is very kind. We shan't impose. A very good night to you, Your Highness." Jared and Talcott leave them to talk with Iris some more.

"Where do you think you're running off to?" Silver does not bother turn around as she flees. Whilst getting a layout of the city, a small group of chatting adults greet her. She does not acknowledge them, walking onwards as if she had not heard them. A few of the rebellious looking ones decided they were going to teach her a lesson in mannerisms.

She takes a sharp turn, her pursuers hot on her heels. Her hood flutters off, but she hardly cares about such a thing at the moment. She reaches a dead end and turns to three angry men staring her down. In any other situation, she would have dispatched them and walked away calmly, but these were relatively unarmed citizens.

The stress from the town and all the noise keeps her from thinking clearly. She runs at them, ducking under their grasp and giving a quick smile once she thinks they won't be able to get her. Her running is stopped, as she chokes and falls to her back. Her hood was an easy part of her attire to grab hold of.

The man in the middle picks her up by the front of her cloak and throws her against a wall, using his weight to keep her there. "We don't got a lot in this city, but manners is one thing we take pride in in this city. You were greeted by the Bollard Gang, and you have the gall to walk past without a word? Are you nuts?"

The man on the left pulls out a knife and walks towards her. Silver's eyes widen as she struggles against her captor. Blue wisps appear under her cloak as her gauntlets materialize on her hands. He takes the small knife and drives it into her shoulder. She grits her teeth and hisses in pain. Tears well in the corners of her eyes as she debates her consequences of defending herself.

Using her right gauntlet, she brings the claws across her captor's chest, from his shoulder to his waist. He drops her and stumbles backwards, using his hands to try and stop the bleeding. She rips the knife from her shoulder and throws it away from herself. Blood soaks into her cloak and begins to drip down her arm.

She swings her left gauntlet at the man on her left, hissing in pain as her wounded shoulder is forced to move. She slashes him across the throat with two of the claws. The man on her right backs up. She disregards the consequences of what she had done, and put her humanity aside. She was in hunter mode now; as wild as the beasts she hunts for a living.

She drives her claws through his chest as soon as they are blazing hot. She removes them as he falls backwards. The blood that coats them slowly boils away, leaving scorch marks on the claws. She lets them disappear as she puts the hood over her head and strides out of the dead end alleyway.

 _So much for getting to know the town. No… Wait. I did get to know the town. This place is shit. What kind of place attacks you for not saying hello?_

She makes her way back into the hotel just as darkness falls, walking into the bright establishment. The manager spots the blood dripping down her arm and yells, "You are staining the floors! Don't move a muscle!" She looks to see a small puddle of blood beside her. She rolls her eyes and continues upstairs, ignoring his pleas for her to clean up before she ruins his hotel.

She listens to the noise coming from the room on the end and knocks on it, mentally complaining about having to use her right hand to do it. She pulls back her hood, wishing to not be scolded for wearing it. She feels a tickle on her cheek and reaches up to wipe whatever it was away. She looks at her bloody hand and sighs. Of course she would forget and use her dominant hand to do something like that.

Ignis answers the door and then steps back at the sight of Silver. He can see the slickness on the fabric on her shoulder and the drops of blood on the floor. She smiles at him happily, despite the blood smeared on her cheek to the corner of her mouth. "Why is it that you are covered in blood each time we meet?" He steps away from the door to let her come in.

Iris gives a surprised yelp as she sees the girl covered in blood. Silver smiles at her and gives a wave to try to settle her down. She takes her cloak off and tosses it by the door. Silver walks past them all and into the bathroom, presumable to get herself cleaned up.

"I could only wonder what she did while she was gone. You're friend is something, Gladdy," Iris looks to the bathroom.

"Yeah," Noctis retorts, "She's trouble."

"No Way!" Prompto argues, "She's totally badass! We should get her to write down what happened so she can tell us."

Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose, "Of course. Why didn't we think of that before?"

The five wait for a while and chat about the local things Iris had seen and her little booklet of facts about the city she felt she needed to recite to them. Silver comes out of the bathroom with a clean tank top and black jeans. Her combat boots replaced with casual black street shoes. Her shoulder sports a small pink scar, from the knife.

Her arms have a few other scars, from many hunting trips she had gone on. Her tank top was low enough that they could see the top of some sort of tattoo on her chest. Her silver hair, now a darker color from being damp, droops lowly.

Ignis gets up and hands her a piece of paper, "I can't believe we had not thought of this before. Tell us what happened."

She snickers and takes the paper and pen from him. She writes a few words and then holds up the paper to him. He frowns and looks from the paper to her and back a few times. "What did she say?" Prompto questions.

"Her written language is not the same as ours," He passes the paper to Prompto. Iris asks to see it and looks it over, "I recognize this. I can't remember what language it is, but I think I can try to read it."

Silver sits on the bed and pulls out her phone. Prompto walks over when he sees her start to concentrate the way one could only do when they play a rather difficult game. He sits beside her and watches her slay beasts in her virtual world. After she dies and gives a sigh, she passes it over to Prompto to let him try it. She shows him which buttons to use.

"Ignis," He calls the man with glasses over to look at the phone while he plays, "The language on this is the same."

Iris holds up the paper, "I think I got it. There are two translations for what is written here. The way the language is put together may make this a bit weird."

They all turn to her. Silver sits up and looks at the girl, wondering if she would get it right. Iris reads, "Its really broken when you try to read it, but it says, 'Castle town was purple exhausted'. Silver?"

Silver snickers and shakes her head. "Right," Iris sighs, "I won't read the other translation." They all turn to look at Silver, who keeps smiling at them. Noctis sighs, "So we can just assume she had said something really vulgar about this place. Then she was mugged or something while she was out?"

She moves her hand to make the 'more or less' sign. They all sigh. "Well, I should probably get going to bed," Iris stands. "Silver, you get to share a room with me." She walks over and links her arm with Silver's. The young woman drags Silver along behind her. The she hunter looks to the four with pleading eyes. They all laugh as she gets pulled from their room and down the hall.

Prompto holds up her phone, "I think we can just give this back to her tomorrow."

Noctis sits beside him to look at the overly gory and graphic game on her phone. "You just want to play whatever game that is."

"So," Ignis brings the attention back to more important matters, "We will have to decide who is supervising her tomorrow. I don't think we need another incident. I wish to not be the one to watch her. You three can decide amongst yourselves."

Noctis is the first to answer, "Not me. She's trouble, and I don't need to be on the front pages of a newspaper." They look to Gladio. He shakes his head and crosses his arms, "I'm going to spend time with Iris. I don't need the she hunter giving her any ideas about women doing guy's work."

"Guess you're stuck with her Prompto," Noctis teases.

The blond shrugs his shoulders, "You guys totally act like that's a bad thing. She's not so bad." They all look at him with wide eyes.

Noctis laughs, "I want to see how long it takes before he's sick of her." Gladio and Ignis give a nod in agreement. "I think she's the new Cindy."

Prompto rolls his eyes at them, "Sure, she's weird. I mean she doesn't talk and is apparently really vulgar. I think you guys just don't understand her. She has good taste in games."

They shake their heads at him but give up on trying to convince him they added a crazy woman to their group. Prompto kicks off his daytime clothes and gets into the cushy hotel bed, not taking his eyes from the game. Though he could not understand the words displayed, he felt like if he tried hard enough, he would be able to find some way to understand the odd she hunter.

Iris wakes in the morning to see Silver sitting on her own bed, polishing the large claw weapons. Iris gets on her daytime clothes before walking over to sit on the bed next to Silver. "Can I see?" Silver turns her head to the younger woman and gives a smile. She hops off the bed and waves for Iris to get up as well.

Silver helps Iris put on the large leather gauntlet and helps make sure her fingers go into the right claws. She tightens the buckles and makes a few other adjustments before putting the other on herself. She makes a swipe in the air to show Iris how to do it. Iris hesitantly makes a swipe in the air and giggles when the claws swish through the air so easily.

Silver lifts her left gauntlet with her palm to the ceiling. The claws begin to glow a dull red before glowing a fiery orange. Flames begin to manifest around the claws. The flames swirl into the palm of her hand to make a small bauble of fire. Silver gives a smile as Iris watches with awe.

Silver shakes her hand and the flames disappear. The metal begins to dull in color until they are completely cooled. She lets the one on herself disappear before she grabs Iris' un-clawed hand and drags her down the hall. Silver spots Gladio walking towards the lobby and gives a whistle to get his attention.

"Gladdy," Iris runs over, "Look what Silver let me wear!" She holds up her right arm to show the leather reaching to her elbow and the slightly loose fitting of it. Silver gets their attention and swats her hand in front of her like a cat, telling Iris to show him. Iris does just that and swipes it through the air.

It whirs through the air, making the sound of blades gliding through the air. They both give a smile to Gladio. He laughs at her enthusiasm. Silver unclips it and returns it to her weapon inventory. Gladio turns to Silver, "Prompto is waiting downstairs. We thought it would be better for you to walk around with someone. Please try not to come back covered in blood."

Silver nods and gives a mischievous smile. "I mean: don't cause trouble," Gladio warns.

She wanders downstairs and stands beside the blond until he notices she's there. She gives a smile to him and holds out her hand. He gives her back her phone and she puts it in her pocket. She goes to put the hood over her head until Prompto gently grabs her wrists. He shakes his head at her, "Nope. You don't get to do that today."

Silver crosses her arms and looks away from him. "Awe, don't be like that. You will fit in better if you don't wear that." She shakes her head at him but decides that she will just have to keep an eye out around herself. She wanders out the entrance with Prompto following behind her.

She hears him snap pictures when they pass by something interesting. They walk onto the main thoroughfare and proceed down that street for a bit until she suddenly stops. Prompto continues walking until she takes hold of his arm and stops him. She points ahead of them at a group of guys. They chat with a few women. Two stand shirtless while the other has on a tank top.

Four large scars cross from the first's shoulder to his waist. The second has five puncture scars in a half circle around his heart. The third has two pink scars across his neck.

She frantically points to them and tries to pull Prompto to a nearby side street. He goes with her and she looks around the corner at the men. She points to them and then to her shoulder. "Those were the guys responsible for that?" He looks out to the large street again and back at her, "Well I think you won. They look awful!"

Silver crosses her arms and frowns. She looks over at them again and gives a smile. She wanders down the street, Prompto follows her, wondering where she could be going. They get to a large marketplace. Exotic foods everywhere! Spices hand from everywhere available, odd item shops have their products strewn about every which way.

She walks up to a stand selling different kinds of fruits and vegetables. She picks up an obviously over ripe Lucian tomato. She pays ten gil for it and wanders back to the thoroughfare. She hands it to Prompto and pretends to throw one. "You want me to throw this at them? I don't think I'd be able to hit them."

She nods and takes the tomato back. She holds her hand out to him in request for him to stay where he is. "I'm not really supposed to leave you alone…" She nods and requests him stay there. She counts on her fingers to three then sprints around the corner. She stops in front of the group and takes aim. The man in the middle frowns, immediately recognizing her.

She catapults the tomato at him and giggles when it splatters on his chest, getting some on the other two and the women chatting with them. She turns and takes off, disappearing around another side street. From Prompto's perspective, he can see her every move as she uses her claw gauntlets to scale the wall of the building and climb onto the roof. The three guys come running around the corner and continue to run, thinking they would catch up to her at any moment.

She looks down at the blond and gives a smile. He laughs as he shakes his head. He holds up the camera in his hand and points to it, "I got the shot!" She digs her claws into the building and uses them to slow her descent down the side. She runs over to the blond with a smile as she tries to settle down. The adrenaline running through her veins is hard to ignore when all she wants to do it run wild. Times like this, she would have a bounty in hand and already be running towards it.

"Damn, you're insane!" She looks up at him and smiles. She walks with him down the thoroughfare towards the street, making their way towards the spectacular view. Silver pats Prompto on the shoulder to get his attention. She gives a smile and takes off towards the outlook. She jumps over the hood of a car and narrowly misses being hit by another.

She makes it to the outlook and leans on the wall to look down the enormous ravine. "Silver," Prompto calls. She turns to him with a smile, frowning after the camera clicks. She crosses her arms. He laughs and gets another photo of her. She rolls her eyes and snatches the camera from him. She walks a few feet away and snaps a photo of him. He laughs when she hands the camera back.

Silver turns when she hears a familiar voice, "You there! Bitch!" She turns to see the three men from before. She reaches into her pocket and hands Prompto a paper. She jumps up to the wall and stands on the edge. She pulls out an odd black tube about four inches long with silver etch markings and blows into the end. A high-pitched whistle sounds. She waves to Prompto before jumping backwards off of the cliff with a twirl.

He yells and runs to look over the edge. The three guys run over as well, wildly frightened, despite wanting to kill her. Prompto hears a loud screech from the ravine below as a flash of autumn colored feathers as a huge flying beast ascends quickly into the sky. He sees the regal glory of a griffon gliding through the sky above. It swoops down a bit and lands with its talons deep into the stone of the wall. Silver sits atop its shoulders, black magic swirls around her being as she climbs off. Prompto helps her back over the wall.

She holds a claw gauntlet towards the beast as the dark colored magic collects around her hand. The magic slowly begins to wisp around the beast before it flies away. She looks to see most people had turned tail and ran. The group of guys was no longer present either. Prompto looks at his camera, beyond excited that he got a shot of one that close.

"What in the world was that?" He questions. She shakes her head and points to the piece of paper he has. She heats up her claws with magic and lightly starts to write on the paper, making sure not to catch it on fire. He looks when she is done, seeing that she had written in broken English. The note reads: Using Beast Tamer Magic. Learn from Xenova.

"How come you didn't just keep this paper?" She takes the paper from him and walks to the little wall. She drops the paper and it flutters away. "You didn't want it to fly away when you jumped off?" She nods. "I've got to tell the guys!' He turns to run back to the hotel. She quickly catches up to him and stops him. She shakes her head and gives a pleading look. She puts a finger to her lips and makes the 'shh' sign.

"Well if I'm going to keep quiet about this, then we have to at least prank them with this!" Prompto smiles so brightly, she has no choice but to give in and nod in agreement. They shake on it and return to the hotel.

…

Why is Silver so terrified of the crowded streets of Lestallum? Why cling to Gladio when she is afraid? Is this just the first of many adventures with Prompto? Will he keep her secret? Can Silver drive?

Find out in Chapter 4: "Brother"!

Questions? Concerns? Constructive criticism? Leave a review or private message me. Do you have an idea that you believe absolutely needs to be included? Guess what! Today is your day! Tell me about it and I may just include it. Every story I post on here is for both your enjoyment as well as my own.

I also am looking for original characters to include in my story. If you have a character you would like to see included, write a review with the following details:

~Name, Age

~Physical description (As precise as possible)

~Weapons/Abilities

~Brief backstory

~Attitude (The way they can be seen when talking or interacting with other characters. Possibly how they react to challenges or hardships)

These characters may make minor appearances or become a major character.


	4. Brother

Hi everyone! As the title implies, today, we get to meet Silver's brother. He is actually based off another character of mine. In this story, I have genderbent them and adjusted the age a bit. I have yet to post the other story, but do look out for that in the future. Please enjoy~

I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.

Chapter 4 ~ Brother

"A sword behind a waterfall?" Prompto questions. He looks at his other team members, a bit upset that he had arrived so late and was now the one being filled in. He wouldn't have changed what happened, because now, he gets to plan how he will scare the life out of his friends. He could bet that even Gladio will be scared.

"Talcott says there is a local legend about a sword behind the nearby waterfall," Noctis explains further. "We could make our way there and do some poking around." They all agree with him and exit the hotel. Silver follows behind them in deep thought. She stops and gives a whistle to get their attention.

She holds her palm out as a shimmer blue light sparkles above her hand. A small booklet, about the size of a bible, appears and floats in the air briefly before she takes it and flips through it. She opens to a page near the end and holds it up. Ignis takes it to look at it. The words are in the same language as Silver had written, and looked to be something she had written as well.

A large snake with a hood and many sharp razors on its body was drawn beside the words. In large letters at the top, 'Midgardsormr' was written. Ignis kept the page number and looked through the other pages. All in the same language, but at the top, each of the beasts' names were in English. He turns back to the page with the large snake monster, "Is this one of the beasts that guards the waterfall?"

She nods with a haunted look in her eyes. Noctis takes the booklet next to look at the beast, "Do you have any idea how we could go up against this thing?" Silver scratches the back of her head and looks away. "Well, if you have some way, I suggest you show us." She nods and begins to lead them to the car.

She stands beside the driver's side and holds out her hand with a smile. "Noct, I think she wishes to drive the Regalia," Ignis gives him a questioning glance, unsure of whether to relinquish the keys to her or not. Noctis shrugs his shoulders. Ignis holds the keys out to Silver. She takes them and gives them a slightly confused look.

"Can you even drive?" Gladio questions as he hops into the back seat. She holds out her hand and turns it from side to side in a manner that would usually be accompanied by, 'eh'. Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose and gets into the passenger seat. "Oh wonderful, we are entrusting our lives to a woman who doesn't really know how to drive."

She waves him off, dismissing his worry. Truth be told, she had never driven, per say. She had played plenty of videogames for driving in her younger years, and she had been in the car when her brother used to drive. She had once driven a tractor even, but never a car. She had especially never driven something so nice and regal before.

She starts the car and gives a smile as it purrs to life. She adjusts the seat so she can see a bit better and then looks at the controls. She knows which is the gas, and which is the brakes, but she looks around to see how to put it in drive. She hears Ignis give a long, drawn out sigh before pointing to a small dial. She nods and turns it to 'D'.

She slowly pulls out of the parking space and up to the main road. Now, Prompto had always complained that Ignis always went slow. He had always gone the speed limit though. So, when Prompto tells her she is driving very slowly, he had given a wild under exaggeration of how slow she was really going. Sure, most places the speed was fifty. The main road was thirty. Silver was going ten.

"So where are we going?" Prompto asks once she enters the tunnel out of the city. She pulls the tags away from her neck and jingles them slightly. "We are going to the HQ? I thought there was a road block that way." She shakes her head slowly and continues to drive. They drive further and further away from the city on a winding road towards the northwest.

They enter a tunnel and she begins to slow her speed as they exit it. The group looks on in uncertainty as they pull into an area they assume to be the HQ. Several shacks, a few stores, a weapon emporium, and a small homely diner lie on either side of the dirt path. Rock covers most of the area above, giving the place a halfway in a cave feel.

Silver turns off the car once she pulls into a grassy area. She hops out and excitedly runs to the diner. The old fellow that runs it sees her running and opens his arms. She giggles as they embrace and they chat a bit while the other four catch up to her. Well, chatting is not quite the right word. The old fellow chatters away and she nods to him.

She draws an 'X' in the air and cocks her head to the side. "Oh, Sen is at home today. I delivered the week's food for him and he said that he would be working on his research for the time being," the old man tells her. She gives him a nod and turns to walk back towards the car. They follow her with uncertainty as she walks past the car and onto a small trail that looks hardly walked on.

The trail was just a narrow part of the forest around them that did not have plants growing on the ground, presumable to have been walked on enough to keep them from being there. They follow as she weaves her way through the trees and into a very small clearing about twenty feet in diameter. A shack begins at the end of the clearing and is hidden under the tall trees.

A squawk comes from beside the house and a large pale purple Chocobo pokes its head around. It spots Silver and she holds her arms out. The large bird trots over and nuzzles her with its beak. She giggles as she pets it. Prompto gives an excited gasp as he reaches out to pet the plush feathers. "What odd coloring," Ignis points out as he looks at the bird.

"Quinn?" Silver looks past the bird to the now open door of the shack. "Quinn, is that you?" A taller gentleman stands on the steps looking around. Silver turns to the four and puts a finger to her mouth to tell them to be quiet. She quietly walks over to the steps and gets ready to jump and tackle him.

Footfalls sound as she gets pinned to the ground by a large pattered feline. It's long whiskers that trail beside its head glow with electricity as it growls at her. The four pull out their weapons, ready to help Silver. "You will have to try harder than that Quinn," The man teases. The Coeurl gets off of her and sits on its haunches. Prompto notices the swirl of dark magic around the beast's neck that looks a bit like a collar.

The magic, however, is so faint that one would not have caught it should they have not been looking for it or seen it before. Silver gets up and gives a giggle. "Come here and give your big brother a hug," He holds open his arms as she goes over to give him a hug. He takes her face in his hands and presses his forehead to hers.

"I'm so glad you are safe." He looks up to the edge of the clearing where Noctis, Gladio, Ignis and Prompto stand. "Who are your friends, Quinn?" She looks towards them and waves them over. They approach and Noctis is the first to hold out his hand. Sen continues to look at them with a blank stare until Silver elbows him in the side.

"Oh, pardon me," he holds out his hand and they each shake it. "My name is Sen. I am Quinn's brother. I go by Xenova outside the homestead." His hair was average length and gleaming silver as his sister's. His eyes were pale blue but slightly glazed over. He was a bit taller than Ignis, if they would have had him stand next to the silver-haired hunter.

"It is nice to meet you. I am Ignis."

"I'm Prompto."

"The name's Gladio."

"Noctis."

Sen nods, "It is very nice to meet the lot of you. Please come in," He turns and walks into the shack. Silver follows after him. The inside was a bit messy, but relatively clean. A small kitchen is near the back with a living room taking up most of the room. There are two doors on the left, one presumably the bathroom, and the other a bedroom.

Silver takes a seat at the small dining table in the kitchen while Sen sits in the armchair. Noctis, Prompto and Ignis take a seat on the couch while Gladio stands. Sen picks up a mug that was on the end table beside him, "I do hope Quinn has not been too much trouble for you."

"She was no trouble at all," Prompto tells him. The other three look at him like he is nuts, but don't say otherwise, figuring that Sen would be cross with her. "I see. I hope they are telling the truth, Quinn. I know how you can be." She gives an innocent smile from her seat at the counter.

"So what brings you all here?" Sen leans back to get comfortable as he wonders who will be the one to explain their predicament.

"We are on a quest to find a certain weapon," Ignis begins, "Silver, eh, I mean, Quinn, brought an obstacle to our attention. She let us see the picture of 'Midgardsormr'," Sen sits up straight and looks at them with wide eyes.

"You are hunting for the sword behind the waterfall," Sen questions with confusion. "Quinn, how could you be so stupid?" He stands and turns to where she sits at the table. "You saw what it did to me. You know the dangerous nature."

"What are you talking about?" Noctis questions.

Sen turns and settles down. "Pardon my outburst. The beast that guards that cave is the reason I am blind. A slow acting acid that it spews. I had not a clue until it was too late. I've been working on a few blueprints for gadgetry that will enable me to see again."

Silver clears her throat to get Sen's attention. "Ah, yes. I have been working on yours as well." He turns back to the others, "I have been working with a device to help her talk. For now, it is purely a way to read thoughts. The Coeurl, Francis, says that you all looked mighty tasty."

"You can read his mind?" Prompto stands excitedly, completely ignoring the fact the large feline wanted to eat them. Sen nods his head, "To an extent. At this moment, I can only feel what he feels, but I just remember the feeling of hunger when he saw you all through the bushes. At this stage, I bet I would only be able to feel simple things when linked with Quinn."

Sen excuses himself and goes to the bedroom. He comes back with a small metal tag that looks like a mini dog tag. He walks over to Silver and feels for her dog tags. He snaps it onto her chain and smiles at her. He reaches up to his ear and presses a small metal Bluetooth to his ear.

Silver looks around for a few moments, unsure of what to do. "Quinn, think of the most vivid and detailed image you possibly can." Silver closes her eyes to think of something her brother would appreciate. She begins to think of the market in Lestallum.

She pictures the sight from when she first saw the market. She was walking through the street from the hotel to the market when she stopped to look at the colors: red tomatoes, green herbs in multitudes, the yellow flowers from the stand beside her. Words could never do the sight justice, as it was so full of color and items.

Sen wipes his eyes as he sniffles. "I thought I would never be able to see the world again. What a beautiful place you have been to." He takes the piece from his ear and sets it on the coffee table. Silver looks at him with a nervous look, then to the four.

"I'm sorry. The piece works a bit better when linked to another human I suppose. I think that I need to make some modifications." Silver gets up from the chair and wanders over to her brother. She makes the noise a snake would. "Ah, yes. Unfortunately, you lot will have to wait a while on that note. The current target is reserved for rank seven hunters or better. I am rank eight, and I was barely able to land a hit on it."

He gives a sigh and shakes his head, "Why don't you lot stay here for the night and I'll come up with something. There is a place in the HQ you can stay, but I have not been out there in a while, so I am not sure its current living state. You are of course welcome to stay here."

"Thank you for the offer," Ignis begins, "But we will take our chances at the HQ." He looks at Silver with a questioning glance, "Miss Quinn? Will you be staying here or returning to HQ with us?" She points to the floor.

Sen feels around for his sister and smiles once he grabs her shoulder, "Can you do a favor for me, Quinn?" She nods. "Quinn?" She nods with a sigh. "Are you saying yes or no?" She moves him hands to her cheeks and nods her head again. "Ah, thank you. I need you to go to the general market and ask if they got my special order in yet."

Silver sighs and walks with her group back to the HQ. They get to the Regalia and Noctis gets Silver's attention, "Who do we pay to rent that?" He points to the trailer with a few white lawn chairs in the lawn in front of it. She points to the small shack across the way.

She wanders to the general store and puts her hood on before walking in there. She walks up to the manager, a young woman with cinnamon colored hair and freckles that Silver knows as the owner's granddaughter, Claire. Claire smiles and leans on the counter, "It's been a while Sen. Going to give me the silent treatment still?" Silver turns to look at Claire.

Claire sighs and turns away, leaning against the counter. Silver stands at the counter, waiting for Claire to get bored of ignoring her. "Your Giant Curlhorns you ordered are in the back. Since Walter ordered them, he said he would pay for it. They're in the storage area. Go get them yourself." Silver nods and walks out the door and around the back to got pick them up.

The massive curlhorns of the Arbagadol lean against the shack. They are each about Silver's height and thicker than her leg near their bases. She walks over to the horns and gives one of them a tug. It was heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle. She begins to drag it over the wood, doing her best not to drag it too hard.

She makes it over to the grassy area and takes a break, keeping it upright. "You need some help with that?" She turns her head to the warrior of their group. She nods her head and gives a large smile when he takes it from her. He keeps it steady as she motions for him to wait as she scampers off to retrieve the second one.

She pulls the other one over to where Gladio waits. "There some reason your brother needs these?" She looks at him with a near blank expression. "Right, you can't talk." She giggles at him as she begins to drag the second horn, walking backwards towards the path that leads to her brother's house. Gladio hefts the other horn over his shoulder so it does not drag on the ground.

Gladio spots Prompto taking photos of the local fauna and calls to him, "Hey, help the lady out, will you?" The blond walks over and gawks at the large horns they have. He picks up one end of the horn and she does her best to walk backwards through the jungle area.

She does know the area even better then Sen did, and makes sure to go slowly enough that she can step over fallen branches or large pebbles. Gladio walks behind Silver and Prompto, going slowly enough that he won't trip either. They get them dragged up to the front patio and Silver knocks on the door.

Sen answers the door with a smile. "Have you come back with what I asked for, Quinn?" She nods but then remembers that doesn't work for Sen. She looks to Prompto.

"We got just what you asked for," The blond happily replies.

"Claire give you trouble like last time?" Silver sighs and crosses her arms. "Well, bring them in and lean them up against the couch, will you lot?" They do as he asks.

"I'm going to go back and help set up. Are you coming with, Prompto?" Gladio walks to the door and looks back at the three. Prompto looks at Gladio and then at Silver and Sen, "If it's alright with Sen and Silver, I'd like to stay for a while."

"It would be no trouble at all if you were present," Sen smiles at him and Gladio leaves. Sen walks over to the horns and smiles when he feels over their quality.

"Quinn, be a dear and keep out of my way, alright?" She turns to Prompto and takes his hand before dragging him outside. She whistles a few times and looks around. She turns to look behind her as two emerald eyes watch her from the bushes.

She points to the bushes and then to the ground beside her. Francis, the large Coeurl, pads out of the bushes and sits in the spot she pointed to. She reaches out and scratches him under the chin. Silver looks back at awestruck Prompto and takes his hand. She guides his hand to the soft fur of the Coeurl's neck. She giggles as the large feline begins to purr.

Prompto takes out his camera and takes a photo of the feline beside Silver. Francis makes sure to give her a large feline tongue to the face just as a photo is taken. They both laugh as they play with the feline. They watch as he chases small birds around and the sun begins to go down.

Prompto stands from they grassy spot they sit and looks up at the sky. "I should probably get going. Ignis will complain if I miss dinner." Silver stands and looks around a bit. She walks in front of him and waves her hands to stop him. "You bored here or something?" She points to her mouth and then covers her eyes.

"Oh, it's difficult for your brother to understand you. I guess I can stay a little longer. But if I do, you have to teach me about the magic you use." She nods to his request and wanders into the house. She waves for him to come in and points to her brother when he catches up to her.

She lets a swirl of the dark beast tamer magic manifest in her palm and points to her brother again. He leans closer to her and asks quietly, "You want me to ask him to explain it to me?" She nods. "Excuse me, Sen."

He looks up from his work on the dining table and turns to Prompto, "What can I help you with?"

"Silver wants me to ask you about the Beast Tamer magic."

…

Will they come up with a solution to fight the great snake? Will Claire still be a bitch? Will the prototype actually be important? Will Prompto be able to handle the truth about Beast Tamer Magic and how it came to be created? Will the answer shock him and hit close to home? Is there more behind why Silver all but begs Prompto to stay?

Find out in Chapter 5: "Great Oshogo"!

Leave a Review or Private Message me! I'd love to know what you think about the story so far. Want to guess what happens next? Want to ask a question about future ships? Want to tell me I'm a bad author and write bad stories? Any and all input is appreciated! I do prefer constructive criticism and actual questions, but whatever you want to tell me, I will listen to. See you all again real soon!


	5. Great Oshogo

Well, this chapter might be a bit confusing, but I would love to know how you felt about it. I'd like to thank The Fantasy Name Generator for the name 'Oshogo'. I would have been lost without it. If you haven't completed the game (Know about Prompto's past) then you may not understand the foreshadowing that takes place in this chapter. Enjoy~

I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.

Chapter 5 ~ Great Oshogo

Sen stands with a sigh and walks over to sit in the armchair. "Quinn and I have the ability to influence the minds of beasts. Only through extreme experimentation and incredible stress did it become possible to use this magic. Quinn still has a while before she can attain her true prowess. At the moment, I am a better castor than she; however, my abilities are flawed. She was four years after myself, and thus, has the abilities created with machinery and technology four years superior."

"You guys were experiments?"

"Yes. My testing and awakening was far easier than hers," He looks over to Silver as she inspects the work at the table, paying little to no attention to what they are saying.

"Easier?"

"I have no idea what she told you guys about her muteness," Sen hints at.

"I think she told Ignis, but I have no idea."

"Beast and daemon blood. All kinds. Mixed and concentrated, mutated and evolved, ingested, infused, injected. You ever want to see the girl freak out, show her a needle. Actually, I wouldn't do that if I were you. The last fellow that did is buried in a few pieces. Several different types of machines were used. We had intensive training too—how to fight, how to survive in the wild, a specialized language. That is what she writes in by the way." He feels around the coffee table until his hand finds a few stray papers.

"Quinn," Sen calls and waits for her to come over. "Write for him, 'I am a Hunter'." She sighs and does as he asks.

"Gladio's sister said she could read this. She said there were two translations to what Silver had written," Prompto takes the paper to look it over.

"In a way, she was correct. The language written there is a variation of Oesesh. It does not have a name. Most people who can read Oesesh, may also be able to roughly translate our written language. Because there is such a rough translation, there are often two or more variations of a translation."

Prompto looks at Sen and then Silver, "How come she understands English, but can't write it? I mean it would be so much easier to talk to her if she could write for us."

"Some people find that they can hear and read a language quite well, but when forced to write it themselves, it can prove to be quite difficult. I had been slowly teaching her, but once I lost my eyesight, it became difficult. I bet she just didn't want to make a fool of herself, so she just didn't try."

"She wrote something for me once, when she scared everyone in Lestallum," Prompto happily reveals. Sen gives a chuckle. "I think she enjoys making us guess her words. She does think it's hilarious to write vulgar things."

"Quinn, are you misbehaved?" She crosses her arms at her brother and looks away. Sen may have laughed at her if he was able to see. "Well Quinn, you just wait. I'll be finished soon. How's about this, Prompto, was it? Take the prototype. You might not be able to hear her, but you will at least be able to understand her sometimes."

Sen walks over to the dining table and feels around for the small earpiece. He comes back and holds his hand out, not quite sure where Prompto was standing. The blond takes it and gives it a onceover. "Now, all you have to do is put that on." Prompto does as Sen says and puts the earpiece on.

"Quinn, something simple please," Sen instructs. Silver rolls her eyes and tries to calm her mind to one simple thing. She smiles at Prompto before closing her eyes.

White light begins to disappear over the distant mountains. Yellow turns to hues of orange, red and pink across the sky, alighting it with a rich variety of color. Fluffy clouds, once white now golden and pink, float lazily through the sky, shifting and changing their forms. Mountains the color of pale blue span across the horizon. Grass lush and green with an orange shine glows in the expanse of hills. Birds fly high in the sky as a lone Coeurl sits looking towards the dying light. His long whiskers flowing gently in the breeze much like the lush grass.

"It's so beautiful," Prompto whispers in awe.

"Quinn does have a knack for thinking of beautiful things. What did you see?" Sen questions.

"A sunset that I wish I could capture in a photo. The most beautiful one I have ever seen," Prompto answers, still trying to keep the image in his mind. Silver giggles as she lets the image fade. "You made this?" He turns to Sen.

"Yes. I have used some of the beast tamer magic to link the tag on her dog tags to the earpiece. Since beast tamer magic has the ability to influence a beast's mind, I figured I could try to use it to connect to the minds of others. Do a justice for me, and do not let anyone get their hands on that. Should you no longer want it, return it to Quinn."

"Of course," Prompto assures him.

"I must be getting back to work then. I can try to make the new model a bit different. Maybe I can make an earing. That could be useful." Sen stands and returns to the table.

Prompto looks to Silver, "You know English huh?" She gives a sheepish smile and looks away. "Well, let's go use this awesome prototype!"

"Please do so in another room," Sen calls to them from the table. Silver nods and walks over to Sen's room. "Quinn, you better not touch any of my things!" She giggles as she walks into his room.

The bed was made and neat, though the blankets did not match the pillows or the sheets in color or pattern. The dressers were clean and had nothing on top. His desk, although extremely messy with pieces for prototypes and a few tapes that he had recorded notes on, was very organized. The desk was cluttered, but the kind of cluttered that you know where everything is.

Silver sits cross-legged on the bed and Prompto rolls the chair over. "So you and Sen were experiments?" She nods and closes her eyes, focusing on the images of her childhood. Prompto closes his eyes as well. He sees through Silver's eyes in a world she brings to existence through memory.

…

Bleak metal walls could be seen all around. The metal walls so distinctly burned within the image. The slightly rusted rivets and bolts keeping them together. The darkness of the corners the one light in the middle of the ceiling does not reach to. The metal sliding door with red lights, showing it was locked to people below level ten security clearance.

Although Prompto can see and hear, when the view shifts to look down to his hands, he finds that he is watching through Silver's eyes. She shifts her view to the door as it flashes green. She stands and backs up to the darkened corner of the wall. A man in a white lab coat comes in. He holds a shock baton in one hand and a tray of needles in the other.

"Please not the needles!" She manages to yelp out in the specialized language. Her voice was squeaky and meek, revealing how young she was. She must have been perhaps five or six in this memory. The man in the lab coat looks at her through his round glasses, "Number Thirteen, shall I tell Mr. Elkin you have been speaking again? You are fully aware of the consequences brought about when a subject speaks."

He walks closer and sets the needles on a table. He grabs her arm and begins to pull her closer, despite her struggle to get away. "Now, now Thirteen. If you are behaved, then perhaps we will postpone the enhancement until tomorrow." She pulls his arm close to her and bites down, hard.

The scientist talks into the communicator on his wrist, "Mr. Elkin, I would like authorization to begin the enhancement now." The voice comes through the wrist communicator a bit fuzzy, but understandable, "She a bit feisty for your liking? Do what you please, just don't rough her up too badly."

She gulps as the scientist leaps towards her and catches her by the hair. He pulls her out the door and down several hallways before roughly depositing her in a room with an operation table. The door locks behind her and she is left to be alone in the room. The walls are the same, however, the room is much brighter, being as how there were operations in this room quite frequently. She looks around a bit and sees a large mirror on one of the walls. She was smart, knowing that was a two-way mirror.

"Thirteen, please place yourself on the table. Do not make me remind you of the consequences of doing things the difficult way," The scientist's voice comes through an intercom. She gives a sigh as her vision blurs with tears. She gets onto the table and lies on her back.

Several other scientists come in and begin the work of securing her wrists and ankles to the table. She looks to see the vials of blood and essences being pumped into her veins. She screams as the blood burns its path through her ordinary blood, her breath hitching once it makes its way into her heart.

Her last thing she had seen before her vision went dark was the metal ceiling and the vials of various liquids in the corners of her eyes. She could hear the voices of the scientists talking about the relief they no longer need to listen to her cries.

…

Prompto opens his eyes with a gasp as he looks around in the room. It all felt so real, so when she finally did black out in that memory, he had snapped back to reality so very quickly. She places a hand on his shoulder to help him come back to reality. Prompto rubs his hands over his arms to get rid of his chills. "That was awful." She gives him an apologetic smile.

She looks over when she hears the door click. "Quinn, get your shoes off my bed." She growls at him and unlaces her boots before sending one towards him. Sen dodges quite easily but frowns when the boot hits the coffee table in the living area. "It is quite late Quinn. This is my dwelling area. Please escort yourself to the couch."

Silver frowns and gets up. She gives a growl as she walks past her brother with Prompto in tow. He leans closer to her as they walk, "You have to sleep on the couch? Don't you live here too?" She points to the couch and gives a sigh before sitting down on it. She waits until her brother closes the door and looks around a bit. Silver stands and holds her hand out to Prompto. He takes it a bit nervously, and she gives a sly smile when she sees the faint pink adorn his cheeks.

She takes him outside to the clearing and takes a look around. "I don't think we should be going out while it's dark. The daemons could come out at any moment!" She turns to him and uses her free hand to motion him to be quiet. She continues to drag him after her as she wanders farther into the thick-forested area.

After about fifteen minutes of walking through the dark, they arrive at a small clearing with a small cave opening. It was tall enough that they could both walk in without having to crouch too much, and wide enough that they could have walked side by side.

Deep growling comes from within, but it soon halts once Silver growls back. A shimmer of blue light and her gauntlet is on her free hand. Her other hand still keeps Prompto's in its grasp, else she would accidently lose him in the darkness. Her claws begin to glow orange and illuminate the cave with a dim light.

She wanders to a tall alter of sorts with a large bowl on top. She manifests a ball of fire and lets it drop into the bowl. Flames erupt out of it and begin to alight the whole chamber. Red runes swirl into existence on the walls as the fire begins to die down. Prompto looks around to see the chamber alight with the red runes and takes in its dimensions.

The chamber is round and the walls curve into a bowl shape, much like they were trapped under some sort of bowl. The middle of the room where the rocky ceiling was about ten feet tall had a fire pit that soon began to glow as fire licked at the wood placed there. The back of the chamber had another tunnel leading deeper. Large claws and glowing eyes watched carefully from the shadows of the tunnel.

Silver makes the kiss noise in the air a few times and lightly claps her hands. The beast emerges and walks over. Francis looks at them both and curls up next to the fire. "You live here?" She nods. Silver motions for him to stay put as she runs off to the back room. She comes back with a pillow and a purple blanket. Both look to have seen better days, but they were still clean and in useable condition.

Silver sits in front of Francis and leans back on his flank. He turns and moves so that he can rest his head on her lap. She giggles and pets his large nose. "You really live here? How come you don't live in the house with your brother?" She gives a shrug and pats Francis on the head.

Prompto decides to sit beside her, carefully moving the Coeurl's tail out of the way. He pulls out his camera and goes through some of the photos with her. She giggles at all the photos he has saved from their trip from before they met Silver. She laughs when she spots a photo of Cindy. "Do you know her?" Silver nods with a giggle.

Silver closes her eyes to remember the memory in detail, and Prompto realizes he had nearly forgot he had the earpiece.

…

Silver looked around at the hot deserts of hammerhead. She walks in the sweltering heat as her knee-high boots protect her from the burning pavement. Her cloak was protecting her from the sun, but it did little to help with the heat. The heavy black fabric actually made it worse—so much so that she considered taking it off.

She made it to the diner and sat down. She handed a flier to Takka and he brings her a large glass of water. "Howdy," Silver turns her attention to a blonde woman. She watches carefully as the scantily dressed blonde takes a seat beside her. "Paw Paw says I shouldn't be talkin' to hun'er boys on account y'all don't usually act friendly. I can't help myself. Y'all are just so interestin'."

Silver looks to Cindy and then to Takka. He gives a chuckle, "Your out of luck, Cindy. This one doesn't talk." Cindy leans on the counter and looks beside her at the hooded figure. "So, you're the mysterious 'n silent type huh?" Silver gives a polite smile at the overly interested mechanic.

"Can a gal at least get yer name?" Silver carefully unhooks her hunter's tags and shows the one with her name, careful to keep the photo tag hidden. "Quinn?" Silver shakes her head. "Ya go by Xenova then? That's a purdy unusual name, fella." Silver just shrugs her shoulders.

"Well I'll be right o'er there in the garage. Ya feel free to come stoppin' by some time, ya here?" Cindy gives a playful wink as she stands and walks out of the diner with a bit more swing in her hips than usual. Silver rolls her eyes and continues to sip her water.

…

"She flirts with you, but every time I flirted with her, she pretended to have no idea!" Prompto crosses his arms. Silver snickers and closes her eyes again, to give Prompto a visual suggestion. He gets the image in his mind: He wears a long black cloak and a pair of dog tags around his neck. "I should be a hunter?" Silver nods. Silver closes her eyes again to imagine a scene.

Prompto widens his eyes slightly as her thoughts shift to her with her claws on her hands and her long cloak on. Her hood is off and she strikes a pose like a bear would hold its paws ready for an attack. Prompto stands behind her and slightly to the side with two pistols. One is held pointing in the air, and the other out to the side. The image he gets is like a photo, viewing them both straight on as if they were on some sort of poster.

"You want to be a team?" She nods. She holds up her hand and her gauntlet appears. She pretends to hold a gun in the other hand. "Close range and long range. It would work perfectly!" She giggles at his enthusiasm. She yawns and lightly pokes Francis on the nose to get him to move. He stretches out some and lies on his side. Prompt gets up and moves to the other side of the fire with the pillow and blanket given to him.

Silver curls up in the fetal position with her back pressed against Francis' furry belly. Prompto looks at her curling up to the large feline beast. If he had come across her in the wild, he would think she was feral—her inability to talk, her growling and other animalistic noises, her ability to commune with most beasts.

He lies on the ground. The ground was cold, but the fire kept him warm. The ground was a bit difficult to get comfortable on, but he was used to it by now since they had done an awful lot of camping since they began their journey. He closes his eyes and gives a content sigh.

…

Prompto looks around to see a field of knee-high golden grass. A large tree reaches to the sky beside him, supplying him shade. The wind blows from behind, waving the grass to make it look as a golden sea. The sky is orange and pink in the dying light. He walks through the grass and further from the tree into the seemingly endless fields of the golden grass.

Birds chirp as they fly through the air. He looks around a bit more, spinning in a slow circle to look around. The endless fields slowly begin to change and as he walks, he arrives at a massive lake. The water sparkles as the blue hues change and flow about lazily. He walks closer until he notices an alter of sorts about fifty feet away in the water.

He looks to the side when he hears footsteps. Silver wears an elegant black dress with flowing silk ribbons. Her shoulders are bare and the hem is just above the ground, rippling so it looks alive. Her regular knee high boots could be seen underneath. The back of her dress has a large silver dagger stitched onto it. He cannot help but think it looks so familiar.

"Silver," he calls out to her. She looks at him from the corner of her eye as she passes by slowly and eloquently. She takes a step onto the water calmly, as it begins to freeze beneath her feet. She walks to the alter and up the steps. Her dress grows longer and flowing around her as if she were under water. She lifts her hands in the air from her sides, with her palms up, as if she were praising to the sky.

Prompto steps back when an ear-piercing roar resonates in the world of golden fields and blue water. The water ripples as more roaring fills the air. Prompto squints as two black horns protrude from the water. The horns are followed by a Dragon's head. Its eyes each as big as a behemoth. The black scales shimmer with a royal sapphire light, the same sapphire hue as its reptilian eyes. It rises up from the water. The serpentine body seems to go on forever as it weaves its head around.

The whole dragon was enormous, and Silver was like a mouse. The dragon had large black wings every thousand feet or so on its body. The wings flap every so often, keeping its body suspended above water. If Prompto had to guess, there was still a good portion of its body under the water.

"How dare you disrupt me again, Quinn," The dragon's mouth opens and closes slowly as its voice booms through the air. "Oshogo," She answers, "I ask a favor." Prompto gasps as he hears her voice. Her voice was strong and authoritative yet sweet and ladylike. "My road ahead is long. It is dangerous. Please, lend me your strength once again, Great Oshogo!"

"I have granted a wish for you once. You have used the weapons as ordinary blades rather than the unholy blades they were forged as. I cannot assist you further without something in return."

Silver bows, getting on her hands and knees. She yells out, "I shall forfeit ten years! However long my original life span was meant to be, I relinquish ten years."

"Fabricated," The dragon begins, "Man-made, Chimera-blooded: Child of Oshogo. Your resolve is payment enough," Oshogo's eyes glow an electric blue. "Quinn Xenova, I, the Great Oshogo, grant your request." A shimmering blue light appears before the alter and Silver raises her head to look at it.

A sword floats in the air. It's made of the same metal her claws are. It's tall, about the height of Silver. The blade has a jagged, slightly curved cross-guard, offering plenty of protection for the owner's hands and thus her life. The cross-guard has an intricate skull on each side, certainly a unique decoration for a blade.

She reaches out and takes the enormous great sword from the sky. It disappears with a shimmer of blue light. Oshogo bares his teeth to Silver and his eyes glow electric blue again. Her feet leave the ground as if gravity has left her. "Child of Oshogo, continue on this new journey. I foresee a drastic catastrophe and darkness in your future. Take this sword and embark on your journey with great strides."

"I am forever in your debt, Great Oshogo."

"Quinn," The dragon's voice becomes friendlier and less stern, "You are of my blood—a true child of Oshogo. Please, remain safe." Silver reaches out her hand and Oshogo moves his head closer until fingers brush gently across the massive scales of its muzzle. "Thank you, Oshogo."

She drifts backwards and onto the white marble of the alter. Oshogo roars into the sky and ascends into the clouds in a spiral motion. His tail, four enormous and elongated translucent fins, emerges from the water and disappears into the sky before he comes rushing back into the water to disappear until he is next called.

Silver turns to look at Prompto and holds a finger to her lips. A blue swirl around her and she is gone. The world around him turns dark. He looks around to see absolute darkness, much like floating in non-existence. He feels warm and humid air on his face and looks around.

…

Why can Silver speak? Are they really in a dream? What will Prompto wake up to? Will Cindy ever get to know Silver and find out she was flirting with a woman? What about all the blood experimentations? Who experimented on these two poor children? Who really is Oshogo? Is Sen really who he says he is? Is Silver really happy to see her brother?

Find out in Chapter 6: "Midgardsormr"!

Leave a review or private message me! I love to hear from you. It makes my day to hear from you. Shipping suggestions? Constructive criticism? Tell me all about it. I have great plans for this story, and it is only just beginning. I plan to do everything to the end of the game. This includes the heartbreakingness of the aftermath of the Leviathan incident. We all cried. This may be sad near the end, but I do promise a happy ending for you all because I need a happy ending for dear Silver.


	6. Midgardsormr

So… this chapter gets a bit heated. This may be a chapter that you should read with caution. It is pretty essential to the story, so try not to skip it. It is important, but I do wish you proceed with caution. Please do tell me whom you think Silver should belong with. It's still an open offer to any of the three. (I wont write Noctis x Silver just because he still believes he will be with Luna in the future.)

I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.

Chapter 6 ~ Midgardsormr

Prompto opens his eyes to see the large pink nose and white fangs of Francis. The large feline stands over him, watching him intently. Francis gives a low growl and looks over to the side. Prompto follows his gaze to see Silver lying on the ground. She has her claw gauntlets on and hugs herself tightly. Blood drips down from where the claws dig into her skin.

Francis looks back at Prompto and steps off of him to pad over to Silver. He licks her arms where the claws dig in and tries to nuzzle her neck. Prompto gets up and walks over. He shoos Francis away and moves Silver so she sits between his legs with her back to his chest. He gently unbuckles the gauntlets and pries the blades from her arms before slipping them off and depositing them to the floor next to them.

Francis wanders over and licks the blood off her arms, whining and growling with worry. Prompto shoos him again, "Go sit outside. You aren't helping." Francis growls but does as he is told. Prompto runs his fingers through her hair and holds her tightly against him. "Silver, wake up." She growls and tries to pull herself from his hold.

She tries to move again and realizes, though she is still sleeping, that she is being restrained. She gasps as she wakes and tries to free herself. "Silver, stop!" She freezes with tense muscles. If she were a feline like Francis, she would certainly have every single strand of fur standing on end.

She looks to the floor to see her gauntlets lying haphazardly beside them. She feels coolness on her arms as a breeze comes into the cavern. She looks to her arms and sees the blood beginning to smear as Prompto's arms keep hers at her sides. She reaches carefully to touch her arm and looks with uncertainty at the blood.

She notices she still strains against Prompto when he begins to breathe a bit deeper and strained. She relaxes and leans back against him. He gives a sigh that sounded much like a sigh of relief. "You are really strong for someone so average looking." She doesn't hear him though, for she is lost in thought as she looks at the crimson coating her fingertips.

Prompto puts his hands on her shoulders and she snaps back to reality. She jumps away and turns to look at him with fear. His arms are smeared with her crimson blood. She opens her mouth like she wants to talk and looks around, struggling to try to say anything.

She sighs and gives up, knowing she was unable to say sorry and to explain herself. She holds her arms out at her sides as a blue swirl of magic travels around her. She now wears a long sleeve V-neck and her cloak had reappeared around her shoulders, fluttering slightly as the magic begins to leave.

She brings her fingers to her mouth to whistle for Francis. She points to Prompto and looks away. Francis pads over and licks the blood from his arms and hands, growling slightly when he is done. She walks over and picks up her gauntlets before letting them disappear with the blue swirl. She stands before Prompto and takes his hand. She bows her head slightly, showing her apology.

He chuckles at her and pulls her in for a hug. She strains against him at first, but relaxes and leans into him. "You don't need to be sorry." His cheeks turn pink as she wraps her arms around him and gives a sigh. She lets go of him and walks out of the cavern to look at the morning sunrise. She guessed it was probably about seven, give or take. Francis growls at her and walks towards Sen's home. She sighs and walks with Prompto back to the little house.

She wanders in and plops down on the couch. Her brother calls from his room, "Quinn, your friends were by a little while ago. I would join them back at HQ, if I were you." Silver nods and begins to walk towards the door. She spots his dog tags and looks back at him.

She picks up the glass vase filled with marbles and shakes it a little. "Quinn, please put my vase down." She smiles and does as he asks, holding it high up in the air and letting it slip through her fingers. The vase shatters on the ground as the marbles go flying and rolling in various directions. Sen stands calmly. "Quinn, so help me, if you do not pick that up this very instant."

Silver backs up to the little table next to the door and reaches behind her to grab something off of it. She takes Prompto's hand and slowly backs out of the house and down the steps. She laughs as she turns and sprints across the clearing and into the forest. Prompto runs after her, easily keeping up with her pace.

"What did you take from that table?" He questions as they run through the forest to the HQ. She holds up a pair of dog tags that jingle as she runs. "You did not just take his tags…" She waves for him to be quiet and puts her hood on once they reach the street. She walks over to the little shop and crosses her arms when she sees Claire manning the counter.

Claire leans on the counter with a large smile. "Who's your friend, Sen?" Silver looks to Prompto. She places Sen's tags on the counter and then points to Prompto. Claire gives a smirk, "I'll need verbal confirmation from you. The recommendation doesn't count if you don't tell me." Silver is quick as lightning as she takes Claire's collar and pulls her close.

"Alright! I'll do it!" She lets go of the woman roughly and picks Sen's tags back up. Claire gets out some paperwork and a pen. "Please fill this out. Since an eight star hunter recommended you, we will allow you to begin at four stars. We request that you continue to travel with the hunter that recommended you until you attain the next rank, however, we cannot stop you from doing as you please."

Prompto quickly fills out the paperwork and hands it to Claire. She gives an annoyed huff as she takes the paperwork to the back room. She comes back a few moments later and sets one pristine looking dog tag and a small chain. "Here you go. Be careful out there. Though it wouldn't be a total shame if _you_ never came back," she points to Silver then crosses her arms and looks away.

Prompto thanks the woman and follows Silver out. Silver makes her way to the diner where she sees the old man taking the rest of her group's order. He looks up and sees her run towards them. "Good morning Miss Quinn. Your friends here are real good company." She opens her palm to the sky as a little booklet appears. She flips it open to the large snake known as 'Midgardsormr'. The old fellow looks around at her current company and then at her. "Well, I won't tell Sen I gave this to you. You better come back in one piece Miss Quinn."

Silver nods enthusiastically and accepts the flier from him. She sits with the others and listens to them complain that Prompto had not returned. He tries his best to talk himself out of the little hole he dug. Silver raises her hand to quiet them all and points to herself and then covers her eyes.

"Silver asked me to stay. She wanted an interpreter because her brother kept askin' her stuff." She nods when they all look to her. "You should have at least come back to let us know you were going to stay there," Ignis scolds him.

Noctis points to the dog tags around his blond friend's neck, "What are those?" They all turn and look at the tags except Silver who looks away, pretending as if she had no part in this all. "I signed up with the hunter's association. They gave me a four star hunter status!" He takes off the tags and holds them out.

"I see," Ignis takes them, "You certainly are trouble." He looks towards said trouble, Silver. She gives an innocent smile. They all sigh. Silver holds up the bounty paper and points back to Lestallum. "Before we go," Gladio points over to the weapons truck, "I'd like to look at their weapons here."

Gladio finishes his drink and gets up to go look at the weapons with Prompto and Noctis. Silver waits at the table with Ignis. The old man, whom the royal party had learned was Ezekiel, came by to chat. He brings a rather interesting drink and sets it in front of Silver. It's a tall glass with white liquid near the bottom and light blue liquid near the top with large chunks of ice.

"What is this?" Ignis questions. "Arctic Lightning, Silver's special. I make sure to bring her one every time she comes by. Since she doesn't come by so often, they are pretty special. Its milk, a splash of vodka, and blue curacao." Silver stirs it a bit before taking a few sips.

"It is rather inappropriate to let a minor partake in alcoholic beverages," Ignis frowns at them both. Ezekiel laughs, "I think this is the best part about Silver: she is mute and young looking. Believe it or not, Silver is old enough to make her own decisions."

"We all assumed you were around sixteen or seventeen," Ignis looks at her with amusement. She gives a thumbs up and shows he needs to be going a bit higher. "Eighteen?" She does it again. "Nineteen?" Silver nods. "I suppose you are still under the legal age, but as a hunter, you are supposed to live like any day could be your last."

"Living every day like it could be your last," Ezekiel says with a sigh, "One of the few things about being a hunter that really has its ups and downs. Miss Quinn here could end up being remembered as the youngest hunter we have had in a long while. She would only be remembered that way if she falls before she is twenty-three. We all pray that Miss Quinn and Mister Sen have enough adventure to keep them happy, but not enough to kill them."

"That reminds me," Ignis looks over to Silver, "How come everyone seems to know her brother, but not her? The hunters we had come across had though she was her brother. Do most hunters not know she is part of the association?"

"It is true that most hunters are unaware of her presence within our ranks. Because they both go under the name Xenova, the more known of the two seems to get the credit. Since Sen had his hunting accident, Miss Quinn goes around doing all the hunting under their family name. She runs around here pretending to be him as well because he had asked we keep his new disability on the down low."

"I see," Ignis nods. "You are one of the very few that knows of everything that happens behind the scenes then, eh?"

"In a way. The head honcho knows too, but he could care less. We let her do whatever she wants or she pouts and causes trouble." Ezekiel pulls out his phone when it dings and reads the text. "Miss Quinn, do you have Sen's tags?" She looks away guiltily. "You better go bring that back to him. I'm sure the speech to text doesn't show that he was yelling, but the ten or eleven exclamation points make me think he's upset."

She sighs and looks towards Ignis. "Would you like me to accompany you?" She nods slowly. He gets up and walks to the others to tell them he will be back soon and explains the situation a bit. They wave him away, too enthralled by the variety of weapons in the truck.

He walks with Silver back into the forest. She turns away slightly as she walks and seems to be fidgeting with something. Ignis frowns, wondering if he should call her out on it and tell her it's unbecoming. His frown disappears when she turns back with a notepad and hands it to him. 'Please tell Silver about Ignis' he reads on the notepad.

"You do know English after all," He gives her a sideways glance, _not incredibly well._ "Such a vague request," he drones. "I am Noctis' advisor. I do nearly all of the cooking and I do bail him out of more trouble then he is worth," he gives a chuckle. She snickers at him. She stops and summons another small book with a blue swirl of magic.

It's a tattered, black colored book that looks almost like a little day runner. She flips around the book a bit before settling on a page she seems to find suitable. She tears it out carefully and holds it in front of her. She looks away as a faint blush makes its way to her cheeks.

"What's this?" Ignis takes it from her and looks at it. He raises an eyebrow once he sees that the writing is in English. 'Spicy Chickatrice legs'. It lists several ingredients and a few different ways to cook them. "For me?" She nods and lets her book fade away with magic. "This is very thoughtful of you, Silver. Thank you."

Silver waves off his thanks, as if to say, 'it's nothing'. They continue walking until they reach the clearing. She walks up and opens the door casually, as if she had done nothing wrong. "Quinn," Her brother says from the armchair, "Will you be so kind as to bring me the tags?"

She wanders over, looking back to Ignis as he leans against the doorframe. Sen stands and takes the tags from his sister. He puts his hands on her shoulders and moves his right to her cheek, feeling the side of her face. He smirks and pulls his hand back quickly.

The sound of skin contact in the form of a slap sounds through the air as Silver stumbles backwards a bit. She looks up at her brother with shock and fear. He frowns at her with his arms crossed. "How dare you steal those! How dare you come into my home, smash my marbles vase and steal my tags to do gods know what with them!"

He steps forwards and grabs the collar of her cloak, lifting her from her nearly cowering state to bring her face close to his. He looks towards the door when he hears Ignis clear his throat. "I would advise you to let go of her," Ignis warns him.

Sen lets go of Silver roughly, sending her to the floor on her butt. He crosses his arms and turns away, "Quinn, you are nothing but trouble. I rescue you from Eclipse, keep you fed, teach you English, and get you in good with the association. Then suddenly, all you ever write about is, 'Oshogo this', 'Oshogo that', and 'Oshogo says I should do this'! And then you just up and leave!"

Silver gets up and wipes the tears from her cheeks. She fumbles with the tags around her neck before taking the thicker picture one and tossing it at him. She turns and storms out of the house. Ignis closes the door quietly and follows after her. He catches up to her once she slows her pace.

"Silver, is Oshogo another hunter?" She shakes her head and summons her claw gauntlets. She points to them. "Those were from Oshogo?" She nods. They walk back to the HQ and meet the others by the Regalia. Noctis has a new sword while Gladio happily polishes his new shield.

If anyone had noticed Silver's unusual distance from everyone, they chose not to make it known. Noctis gets in the drivers seat, leaving Ignis to squish into the back with Silver and Gladio. Prompto fiddles with the radio as they pull onto the road headed for Lestallum.

Noctis had decided, while Silver and Ignis were gone, that they would go to Lestallum first. If they made it there in good time, then they would make for the waterfall. They had all decided that was a good idea; save for Silver who refused to even look at anyone, leaving her angrily glaring at the radio from the middle seat.

Prompto turns around in his seat and leans slightly so he can be face to face with the angry woman. "What's your deal? You were normal and excitable this morning. Now you're angry," He deeps his voice and gives her a mock frown. Ignis waves for him to stop and shakes his head slowly.

"It would be unwise to anger her at the moment. Just look at the scenery around you, rather than bother our already irritated hunter," he suggests. Prompto rolls his eyes and sighs as he sits back in his set and looks at the passing trees.

Gladio puts his arm around her shoulders, "Just tell us why you're upset." She looks at him with a blank expression. "Right, you can't talk." She gives him a look of extremely mock shock, as if to say, 'you don't say?'. Gladio leans forward to get a better view of her left cheek, "What happened to your cheek?"

Silver slowly raises her hand to hide her cheek and leans back in her seat. Ignis gives a sigh, "We had an incident with her brother. Things got a bit… heated." Gladio gently grabs her chin and moves her head to look at her cheek, "He hit you?" She nods. She feels the arm around her shoulders tense. "Once we are done with all of this, we are going to go back and teach him that men don't hit women."

She sighs and shakes her head slowly. The car ride to Lestallum was exceptionally silent afterwards. They stopped to refuel and stock up on a few extra potions. Silver waits in the car as they all get the things they need. She rubs her cheek absently, feeling the tingle of the reddened skin. She was certain it would bruise.

When everyone piled in the car, Noctis decided he was still going to drive, he handed her a cold drink, "Put that on your cheek." She nods slowly and does as he asks. They drive again, slowly making their way to the parking spot closest to the waterfall. Silver took the opportunity to look around at the scenery.

They pull in to the parking spot where a little shop and refueling station lie. There is a caravan trailer as well and a great view of the land when looking over the railings. They all get out of the car and look around the place. Silver walks to the railing to look down at the rushing river.

"Alright guys," Noctis points towards the road. "Let's get going. The sooner we get down there, the more energy we will have to go through the cave afterwards." Silver follows them as they walk on the street and to the stairs that leads down below. Silver walks slowly down the steps as she looks around. She waits, wondering where the large snake will intercept them.

They walked along a dirt path with large bushes on either side that declines and takes them closer to the water. They turn a curve and stop. The path is a lot steeper, and at the bottom lays an open area by the water with one very large snake sunning itself.

"Is that?" Noctis questions as he points to it. Silver gives a nod as a haunted look makes its way to her face. Prompto takes out his camera and zooms in for a photo. "Well, Noct," Ignis gets his attention, "What do you want to do?"

"Silver?" Noctis turns towards the she hunter. She looks at the snake and then at Noctis. She glances at Prompto taking photos; her eyes widen and she face palms. She holds out her hand and the same odd black whistle with silver etchings appears in her hand. "What is that?" Gladio gets closer to look.

Silver holds up her hand to keep them all from questioning. She blows the whistle as an odd tune comes from the end. She waits a few seconds, listening. Noctis looks at her like she's crazy, "What are you—" She holds up a hand to silence him. They all look to the sky when a screech resounds through the area.

The large autumn colored griffon she had summoned once before flies high in the sky above them. She puts the whistle away and steps back a few steps so the others do not see her. She equips her claws and holds one behind her back, letting it manifest the black best taming magic.

The four are all too enthralled with the large griffon swooping down and raking its claws on the snake to notice whom was really behind its motions. She would give directions to it as the snake would try to strike, showing it where it needs to be to dodge the attack. Prompto glances back at her and gives a sly smile, knowing exactly what she's doing.

She looks back at the battle when she sees the snake catch the griffon from the air and begin to wrap itself around. She lets the magic dissipate as she sprints towards the two beasts. The four call after her, wondering how she could be so crazy as to interrupt the fight between two large beasts.

Prompto runs after her, knowing her intentions. The other three soon follow with weapons drawn. Silver jumps and launches herself at the snake, sinking her flaming claws into its cobra hood. It hisses out in pain and anger, releasing the griffon from its coiled body and the beast flies away. She gives a pained cry as the serpent purposely falls backwards to try and crush her. It large body keeps her pinned to the ground as it rolls around.

She hears a few gunshots before the serpent rights itself and takes a look around. Silver springs to her feet and runs back towards her group. Noctis gives her a smack on the back of the head and a stern look, "You could have died." She gives a sheepish smile as she lets flames erupt around her claws again.

They all pull their weapons out. Silver gets into fighting stance. "Here we go," Noctis gives a sigh as he runs first to attack the snake. She narrows her eyes, _let this epic battle commence._

…

Is Sen the bad guy or is he just a bad brother? Will they beat the great snake? Will they get the royal weapon from the cave behind the waterfall? Will Silver actually go in the cave? Will you want to try what Silver does afterwards even if I strongly recommend you do not do so?

Find out in Chapter 7: "Calm Before the Storm"!

Leave a review or private message me. I want to know how you feel about Sen being a cruel brother who was actually very bitter towards his sister. I still want to know whom you want her to be with. Up until I decide, she may end up having a bit of romance with each of them. Please do let me know.


	7. Calm Before the Storm

Your prodigal author has returned. I'm back, and I plan to continue with this story until it is finished. I can't plan that I will update every week, but I sure will try!

I've always wanted to try what Silver does during their venture in the cave. I might do it one day. I would recommend against doing it though, because I hear it is quite dangerous. I hope you enjoy~

I do not own any characters other than my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.

Chapter 7 ~ Calm Before the Storm

They all rush the beast. It senses that they may be a bigger threat than anticipated and inhales deeply. The five notice it's puffing up for something big and begin to scatter.

Silver notices that the beast has its eyes trained on Gladio. The snake opens its mouth. She acts on instinct and dashes over to the warrior, donning her hood and grabbing the heavy fabric of her cloak with each clawed gauntlet.

She jumps in front of him as a green acid spews from the snake's mouth. She holds her cloak open with her back to the snake as the thick black fabric does as it was supposed to and keeps the acidic venom from splashing on either of the two. She immediately ditches the cloak when she notices little holes beginning to form in the heavy fabric.

"I owe you one," Gladio thanks her with a squeeze to her shoulder before letting the large sword in his hands slice at the snake. Silver checks to make sure there were no other splashes of the venom on her person.

Noctis warp strikes, sending his sword clean through the large snake's hood. It thrashes and whips its spiked tail around, almost catching Gladio and Silver. Gladio jumps in front of her and uses his sword to deflect the spiked tail. She gives a nod of thanks before she sprints in front of him and sinks her claws into its body.

Prompto shoots at it from a distance, making sure he keeps out of the way of the flailing tail. Ignis slashes at the snake each time it tries to go after Noctis, making sure to embed his daggers into the softer underbelly while the beast remains distracted.

The snake whips its body around, sending Silver flying into Gladio, knocking him over and sending his sword flying. It lands close to Prompto, eliciting a yelp from the gunslinger. His hand clenches as he jumps away and accidentally fires the gun. The bullet flies through the air and clinks against Ignis' dagger as it flies towards the snake, sending the dagger off course enough to lodge into the large eyeball of the serpent.

They watch as it struggles and flails around in pain. The large serpent slithers around half blind, crashing into Noctis, sending him stumbling backwards to crash into Silver as she helps Gladio up, keeping them on the ground. Silver pushes herself off of Gladio's chest. Her eyes, once a pale blue color, begin to glow an electric blue.

The warrior's breath hitches as Silver stands, acting like a completely different person. She looks at Gladio and then at the snake. She points to its head and then to the air. Gladio puts his sword on the ground, understanding she needs his help to gain some sort of momentum.

She steps onto the sword, getting into a fighting stance, ready to spring upwards once he is ready. He uses all of his might to fling her upwards in the air.

The next moments pass by in slow motion for the four as they watch her soar through the air like an angel of death. The snake sees her too and quickly coils itself.

The snake shoots its body upwards, ready to catch her in the air. She holds up her hand once her ascent slows. The enormous sword, granted to her by Oshogo, appears in the air. She takes the hilt in her hands and uses her body to gain momentum, spinning in the air and swinging the sword in a large circle.

She comes down with full force-the blade easily splitting the hard skull of the stretched out snake. The sword does not stop, as it easily cuts through the snake like butter and embeds itself deep in the ground as blood and gore rain down on her.

She stands and looks at the others. Her eyes still glow an electric blue as she holds the sword with one hand. It disappears in a swirl of blue magic, leaving a deep gouge in the earth. Silver drops to her knees as her eyes return to normal. She breathes heavily and wipes the blood from around her eyes, trying to see a bit more clearly at her friends.

They all stand and watch her with awe and horror. "Just like an angel of death," Gladio whispers to himself. Prompto holds up his camera, looking to see if he got any good shots. He had one that he thinks is amazing: Silver in the air, bringing the swords down on the great Serpent's head.

They all watch her with wide eyes as she finally pulls herself off the ground. She stands and steadies herself by holding her arms out. She looks at the others and gives a smile. The smile of a hunter that had successfully brought down a target—a smile of pride and courage graces her lips.

"Silver…" Prompto whispers her name in awe. He jumps up and down and throws a fist in the air, "That was amazing!" She runs a hand through her hair and frowns when she feels the slickness of blood. She gags when she brings the hand in front of her to look at it. She gives them all an unhappy look.

Gladio comes over and playfully smacks her on the shoulder. Ignis and Noctis congratulate her on such a fine kill and a wonderful show of her true prowess. Prompto gushes about how amazing that was and his need to learn some cool moves like that. Silver looks at her discarded cloak.

She walks over and picks up the tattered fabric. She holds it up for further inspection. The holes grow larger by the second, making her believe that her entire garment would soon be gone. "Wow, Gladio, look," Prompto walks over and points to the diminishing fabric. "You are so lucky Silver jumped in front of you!"

Ignis walks over to inspect the cloak, or rather what is left of it. "What truly terrifying venom; Prompto is correct. You may just owe your life to Silver for her quick thinking." They all look at her, and she gives a sheepish smile.

Noctis crosses his arms, "What made you do that?" He questions her with mild curiosity, wondering why she would jump in the way like that if she had no idea whether the snake was going to attack or spew its venom. How could she have been certain that it would only get on her cloak and not seep through to harm her?

She points to the snake and covers her eyes. "Ah," Ignis nods, "You recalled what it did to your brother. You do seem to be worth all the trouble." He gives her a chuckle when she crosses her arms and frowns at him.

She just rolls her eyes at them and walks over towards the water of the river. She reaches the edge and looks back at the four. They watch her with uncertainty, wondering what she could be doing. She points to them and then covers her eyes. She turns back around, hoping they understood her intention and takes her black long sleeve off, tossing it on a nearby rock.

She unlaces her knee-high women's combat boots and kicks them aside before jumping into the river with her pants still on. She quickly scrubs her hair clean of the snake's blood and she runs the near frigid water over the four wounds on each arm from the morning. A few of them begin to bleed anew from the scrubbing, but most stay clotted.

She gets out and wrings out her hair. She holds up her hands in the air as her outfit begins to change. The water is whisked away and her hair only remains slightly damp as the blue magic swirls around her.

The four were caught up in their conversation, having been kind enough to grant Silver her privacy.

They turn once they all feel the magic spike in the air. Noctis looks at her outfit, narrowing his eyes, as he believed her outfit to look rather familiar to him. She wears black pants tucked into the knee-high boots and a black frock coat partially buttoned up. She wears a black scarf as a belt, letting the ends hang and flutter.

Prompto leans closer to Noctis and whispers, "Is it just me, or does she kind of look like she is wearing Kingsglaive Uniform?" Noctis nods slowly as he eyes her suspiciously. They all exchange glances as she walks over to them. She gives a smile, feeling much nicer after cleaning the gore from her person.

"Let's get going," Noctis points to the waterfall. They all walk onwards up the incline to the waterfall. Silver walks a bit slower than the others, looking around at the water and the plants.

Gladio hangs back a bit and waits for her to walk past him. He walks beside her, "Thank you for sacrificing your cloak to protect me from the venom."

She gives him a smile and nods her head. "You know that the way you are dressed makes you look like part of the Kingsglaive," he points out.

She just shrugs her shoulders at him. She gives him a cheeky smile, and it made him almost certain she wished to answer, 'I am protecting the King aren't I?'.

She looks ahead when she hears Prompto's excited voice, "Let's get a pic of this spot!" She stands and looks on at them as they all stand on a rock before the camera to get the waterfall in the background. Prompt runs over and drags her over with them. She gives a smile for the camera as Prompto drapes his arm around her.

The camera flashes as it takes a photo. Silver waits for him to put all of his camera accessories away and walks with them to the waterfall. She looks up at the large waterfall and frowns when a large gust brings more mist her way, getting her wet.

"Wow," Prompto beams, "Wouldn't you know it—an entrance!" Silver freezes before the cave mouth. She feels the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. The cave sends chills down her spine before she even steps into it. She can't help but think: _This cave is bad news._

"Got a problem?" Gladio questions from behind her. She shakes her head slowly and wanders into the cave. She feels the chill as a breeze wisps past her. She hugs herself as she watches her breath in the air. "This place gives me goose bumps," Prompto voices. "Double back for our coats?" He questions hopefully.

"What's the point? Little chill won't kill ya," the warrior crosses his arms and gives a smirk to the blond. Silver walks closer to the blonde, holding onto his arm as they walk.

"Looking on the bright side," he begins, "Maybe the cold keeps the monsters at bay?" Silver sighs and shakes her head.

"Yeah, because monsters like warmth." Gladio's words were laced with sarcasm.

Silver snickers as she imagines a Thunder Bomb frozen in a block of ice. Prompto snickers too and glances to the side at her. She gives him a questioning look. He puts a hand up to his ear. She snickers as she remembers her brother's prototype.

The royal party and the she hunter walk further in, noting the dropping temperature. She looks at a few icicles hanging from the ceiling. She walks onwards to see a huge pillar of ice before the cave turns to icy flooring and descends deeper.

She walks over and presses her tongue to the frozen pillar.

She giggles as she tries to pull her tongue away to see she cannot do that. Prompto walks over to her with a frown as he pulls out his camera and flashes a photo of her smiling like an idiot.

"Silver?" She looks to the side enough that she won't pull her tongue and sees the rest of the royal party with their arms crossed, looking on at her, with her tongue stuck to the ice pillar. Noctis has a hand on his face as he gives a drawn out sigh. Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose while Gladio gives an amused smirk.

Prompto snickers at her once she tries to pull away. "Looks like you are stuck there for now," He walks back over to his friends.

Ignis walks over and looks at her with a frown, "We are going to continue forth. You will be safe until we return. Should you get unstuck, stay here."

Silver rolls her eyes at him and giggles. She hears Noctis slide down the icy ground and descend deeper into the network of caves. She hears the others slide down after him and the footsteps echo as they walk.

She hums softly as she waits. Her tongue burns as it absorbs the cold from the ice. Drool dribbles down her chin and drips onto the floor.

She feels the coolness in the air and hugs herself to try and keep warm. Sounds of metal against metal could be heard from further within. Noctis and his team had likely encountered some monsters. She sighs, wishing she were able to go there and fight too.

She doesn't regret sticking her tongue to the ice pillar, for it was fun in the moment and she had always wanted to do it. She was also a bit worried about the feeling of fear she had when first entering the cave.

She pulls out her phone and holds it to the side to take a selfie. She gives a thumbs up and half a smile to her phone. She gives a giggle as she looks at the picture to see what she looked like. Her long silver hair was flawless as it could be after fighting a giant snake and practically taking a spa day in the river. Her chin was wet and a long line of drool hangs from it. She does look happy though, having done something she had only seen in movies.

She waits for what seems like an eternity before she gets tired of having her tongue stuck to the pillar and brings her Hell Blades into existence with the swirl of blue magic. She lets the metal glow red and touches the claws to the ice. The blades slide into the ice easily, melting it. She slowly edges them closer to her tongue until she can feel the heat and the water drip down her chin.

She finally frees herself and looks around with her tongue sticking out. She tries to warm her mouth a bit and finally gets her freezing tongue in her mouth with a wince at the coldness. She giggles and sits down cross-legged doing as she was told and waiting where she was.

It was awfully quiet in the cave. It was frigid, dark and wet. Her back began to feel the cold more and more, causing her to shiver. Her teeth chattered and her breath came out visibly, much like a plume of smoke. Gods, she was freezing. She just had to move to keep warm, but she was told to stay put, so what could she do?

She stands and summons the unholy weapons Oshogo had gifted her. Hell Blades appear on her hands, glowing orange with fire magic. She then summons the same whistle she used to bring the griffon to her. She uses the other side this time, making a deep sound, almost like a sound one would bring forth when playing the didgeridoo.

A deep, rich sound with a hint of bass comes from the end of the whistle and travels through the network of caves. She smirks when the effects of the whistle take place and several imps crawl up the icy slope her friends disappeared down. She lowers herself, getting into fighting stance and growling at her new foes.

The nasty little creatures hop around her, trying to get her to lose track of them. The first one jumps from behind, aiming for a strike to her back. She ducks as the little daemon flies over her head. Silver jumps backwards and then forward at the imp to her left. Her blazing claws cut it clean through. It disappears in black smoke with red orbs of its daemon essence—essence she knows all too well.

She gives a chuckle as the others look at her with slight fear. This was the way to rid her of the cold. Heating her body with the fuel the bloodlust provides. Her claws make quick work of them as she laughs. One shoots her with a beam of purple magic, sending her forward and onto the floor.

Silver wished she were able to speak, for she wanted to let them know that their demise was imminent. Her claws burn with the white-hot intensity of a sun. A blinding white light comes from the ten claw blades and begins to consume the daemons. All she could hear was their screams of pain as they had been burned to ash.

She looks to see the ice around her has melted and runs deeper in the cave. The ice pillar is no more and the walls were heated rock. She sits down where she had been standing, since the rock there was warm and dry. She couldn't wait until the others came back. She knew exactly what they would be thinking when they saw all of the ice gone. They would think she did all of this because her tongue was stuck.

…

Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose, "You did not…"

"She so did!" Prompto runs over to her excitedly and puts his hands on her shoulders, flashing her a huge smile.

Noctis laughs and falls to the ground, holding his stomach. He tries to breathe in between his laughter and words, "You… burned everything… just to get… unstuck." Gladio gives a chuckle at both her antics and his friend rolling around on the floor.

She gives a smile to them all and shrugs. They all took a few moments to appreciate the heat from the rocks around them, happy to have something so warm to stand by after a long expedition through frozen caves. Noctis leads them out of the cave, stopping before the entrance to look at the waterfall.

He suddenly brings his hands to his head and falls to his knees. Ignis is immediately at his side with his hand on Noctis' shoulder. "What did I? Where was that?" The prince questions as he looks around a bit confused.

"What is it?" Ignis questions.

"A hole in the ground… something burning… The meteor?"

"You saw the Disc of Cauthess?" Noctis nods to Ignis' question, standing up and regaining his composure. He shakes his head and begins walking.

"Let's make our way back to Lestallum," Gladio suggests as they all look towards the dying light of the sun.

Silver takes the opportunity on their trip back to the car to walk over to the snake and take one of the large scales from its body. She holds it up and gives a smile. She worked hard for this and she was going to turn in the bounty for this great beast and impress everyone with her antics.

They all pile into the car, complaining a bit when Silver hops in the passenger seat up front. She turns around and sticks her tongue out at the three men squished in the back seat. Prompto takes his opportunity to get a picture of her gloating, and then a selfie of the three of them squished in the back.

Noctis smiles as he looks in the rear view mirror at his three friends and then as he looks to the side at Silver. He really did have the best of friends. They all got along, for the most part anyway, and they were all a bunch of fun.

Prompto was his best friend, always keeping the group happy and together, he was like the glue of the group. Ignis was strict at times, but he knew when to be lenient or, dare one say, fun at times. He was what kept them all on track and out of trouble for the most part. Gladio was the playful warrior that knew when he needed to put down his foot. Silver, she was another story altogether.

Silver had stumbled into their lives, or rather they chased her down. She was so expressive and odd. Sure, she didn't talk, but you could see her feelings in those big blue eyes she had. He could even see those times that her smile kept her deeper feelings hidden. He could see her eyes when they were at the HQ, when she first got to see her brother.

Her eyes betrayed the distance she held between herself and her brother. She was putting on an act while they were all there. He had easily come to realize that she kept Prompto around the night before because she felt safer that way. He had brought the fact up to Ignis while they were in the gas station in Lestallum. He agreed, having seen first hand how her brother had been acting around her. He had said her brother was quite surprised when he realized Ignis had been standing there and watching him be so rough with his sister.

He looked at her again before pulling away from the parking spot. She sits relaxed in the front seat. She closes her eyes and slowly brings her hand up to her slightly red cheek. Her usual smile falters for just a brief second. He knew—they all knew. She had put on an act. She was suffering on the inside, always hiding behind her big smile.

…

"Prince Noctis!" Talcott runs over excitedly, "Welcome back!"

"Your story came to a happy end," Ignis reports with a smile.

Noctis gives a smile to the young boy, "We owe you, Talcott."

Iris stands beside them, she waves Silver over while Noctis briefly talks to Talcott and Jared. Silver takes out the large snake scale and shows it to Iris. The young teen looks at it with awe in her eyes.

Silver looks back to Noctis when he grunts with pain. She briefly gets a bit protective and on edge until she notices it was just a headache like before. She watches beside Iris. "Not again…" Noctis manages to say under his breath.

Iris walks over to him with worry written all over her face. "What's the matter? Are you alright?"

Gladio lays his hand on the prince's shoulder and turns towards his sister, "He'll be fine. Don't worry. We oughta take a closer look at this so-called 'Disc'," he suggests.

Prompto smiles, "Then look no further than the outlook. When I went with Silver, we were able to see it from there. I bet you can use the viewer things."

Ignis puts a hand to his chin, "No substitute for being on sight, but it would be a start. Let's see what we can glean of Noct's condition."

Iris walks over and grabs hold of Silver's frock sleeve. "Gladdy, can I please keep Silver here?" Silver turns to look at Iris and then at Gladio. The woman of silver hair seemed to have no problems with it, but had no idea if that would be acceptable. Gladio looks to Noctis who waves them off. Iris happily drags Silver upstairs.

…

You all know what part happens next. Will Silver get left behind? What _will_ happen next? Will Silver rise to a challenge or will she flee like a coward? Will they ever get to meet up with Sen again? Will Gladio teach him a lesson about hitting women?

Next up is Chapter 8: "I Will Protect Her"!

Leave a review or private message me. The next chapter will be a bit… dark? It's a little violent. I still want to know what you all think. I'm leaning towards a Gladio x Silver, but that could change at any time. I may end up just making her non-exclusive and then the real fun starts. I'm just kidding. I won't turn this into a raunchy smutty fiction. The plot will always come first. See you next time.


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